3rd Party Reprocessing of Single Use Devices in the OR Practice Test

Naturally occurring folate in foods is less readily absorbed than synthetic folic acid because it mostly exists as polyglutamates that must be deconjugated to absorbable monoglutamate forms in the small intestine. The body doesn’t convert all of it, and some is lost during cooking and digestion, so roughly half of the folate present in natural foods is actually bioavailable. That’s why the estimated bioavailability of naturally occurring dietary folate is about 50%. In contrast, synthetic folic acid is much more readily absorbed, contributing to higher overall bioavailability when people consume fortified foods or supplements.