• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.11
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• pp.1796-1800
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• 2014

Trienzyme digestion (AOAC Official Method 2004.05) procedure using protease, ${\alpha}$-amylase, and chicken pancreas conjugase was evaluated to determine its usefulness in the microbiological quantitation of total folate in foods. Folate values obtained by alkali hydrolysis (Korean Food Standards Codex) were compared to those obtained by the trienzyme method for four certified reference materials (CRM) representing diverse matrixes. Trienzyme treatment increased measurable folate from most CRM compared to levels found after alkali hydrolysis. The largest increases were observed with CRM 487 (pig liver, 5.8-fold) and CRM 121 (whole meal flour, 3.1-fold) after trienzyme digestion. Using trienzyme digestion method, total folate contents of raw and blanched edible plants were determined. Eleutherococcus senticosus ($146.9{\mu}g/100g$) showed the highest total folate content, followed by Aster glehni F. Schmidt ($142.8{\mu}g/100g$) and Ledebouriella seseloides H. Wolff ($140.4{\mu}g/100g$) on a wet weight basis. Blanching of samples resulted in an insignificant decrease in folate content for five samples and 11~63% reduction for nine samples. Our finding suggests that trienzyme digestion method is accurate for the determination of food folate in leafy vegetables.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2009

Total folate content was determined by microbiological assay using Lactobacillus casei spp. rhamnosis (ATCC 7469) with a 96-well microplate technique. Using roasted peanut and red kidney beans as representative legume samples, response surface methodology (RSM) was supplied to optimize the trienzyme procedures for the determination of folate in legumes. After response surface regression (RSREG), the second-order polynomial equation was fitted to the experimental data. Ridge analysis showed that the optimal digestion times were <2 hr for $Pronase^{(R)}$ and $\alpha$-amylase, and <5 hr for conjugase to obtain maximal folate values for legume samples. This study confirms that established digestion times for cereal products (AOAC Method 2004.05) of 3 for protease and 2 hr for $\alpha$-amylase are applicable to legumes. Conjugase treatment can be reduced to 5 from 16 hr and the conjugase level to 5 from 20 mg per sample, providing significant cost saving.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.586-604
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• 2005

A reliable nutrient database is a prerequisite for accurate calculation of dietary intakes. The folate database currently available in Korea, however, is not reliable because the values were obtained from published data in other countries using ineffective methods to extract folates from the food matrix. The purpose of this study was to complement the folate database by analyzing folate content in foods using a more effective method to extract food folates (trienzyme treatment). Folate content per unit weight was highest in laver, fermented soybeans, soybean, spinach, black soybeans, crown daisy, mung beans, and quail's egg in descending order. Legumes, leafy greens, eggs, and seaweeds were rich in folate, and meats, chicken, fish, and some fruits contained less folate. Some of the analyzed values were 10 times higher than those in the currently available database. Folate values of 423 foodcodes out of 2,932 foodcodes ($14.4\%$) in the database in the 7th revision in the Recommended Dietary Allowances for Koreans can be replaced by those analyzed in this study. Since folate values of rice and Kimchi, which are core dishes of Koreans, in the newly established database are higher than those in the current database, folate intake assessed using our data will be higher than that using the current available database. Folate content in more foods commonly consumed in Korea are needed to update the folate database. Meanwhile, folate values presented here can be used to assess dietary folate intake of the Korean population.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.397-405
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• 2009

A trienzyme extraction method (use of ${\alpha}$-amylase, protease and folate conjugase) for food folate assay has been used to release folate from the food matrix. In order to reduce the incubation time with three enzymes, folate values were compared between two incubation protocols; separate incubation (SI, incubated with ${\alpha}$-amylase and conjugase separately for 2 hours after protease treatment) and combined incubation (CI, incubated with ${\alpha}$-amylase and conjugase together for 2 hours after protease treatment) using 88 food items from 12 kinds of fast foods and processed foods. We found that folate values by CI were comparable to or higher than those by SI, indicating that CI might be a better extraction procedure to shorten the entire incubation time. We measured folate contents in 49 fast foods and 26 processed foods by microbiological assay after CI. Mean folate contents of one serving of various burgers ranged from 43.1 to 62.0 ${\mu}g$. One serving of French fries, pizza, sandwich and triangled kimbab contained a mean of 53.3, 28.4, 47.4, and 25.7 ${\mu}g$ of folate, respectively. Folate contents of non-alcoholic beverages were very low, ranging from 1.0 to 5.2 ${\mu}g$/100 g. Some of our values were comparable to the values in the folate database published in Korean Nutrition Society, however, some of the published values were 140 times higher than the measured values in this study. Folate values measured by the more recent modifications here can be used to update Korean folate database to accurately estimate dietary folate intake.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.425-431
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• 2019

Selected leafy vegetables, widely used for Korean Namul dishes, were heat-treated in different ways and their folate retention was investigated. The Lactobacillus casei method was applied for folate estimation and validated to ensure reliability of analytical data. The folate content in Namul highly varied, from 29.7 to $293.4{\mu}g/100g$, depending on the heating methods and the types of vegetables. Most of the Namul variants showed increased folate content on heat treatment. Frying yielded higher folate retention than the other cooking methods (blanching, steaming, baking, and panfrying), and pig weed showed the highest folate retention (3.3 times, $293.4{\mu}g/100g$). L. casei assay for folate estimation showed 95.7% recovery and relative standard deviations less than 2% for both reproducibility and repeatability, indicating good accuracy and precision. Quality of the folate assay was assured by monitoring a quality control chart and a proficiency test (z-score= -0.1) during the entire of study.