Folate fortification of white and whole-grain bread by adding Swiss chard and spinach. Acceptability by consumers

The aim of this work was to study the effect of bread-making on the content of endogenous folate of white and whole-grain bread fortified with either Swiss chard or spinach at 20 g/100 g and 40 g/100 g measured by HPLC (H4-folate and 5-CH3-H4-folate); and to assess the sensory acceptability of folate-fortified breads compared to non-fortified breads. The fortification of breads with 20 g/100 g and 40 g/100 g vegetables significantly (p < 0.001) increased the total folate content (from 19.9 to 57.9 μg/100 g in white bread and from 37.4 to 75.5 μg/100 g in whole-grain bread). Moreover, 40 g/100 g Swiss chard- and spinach-fortified breads obtained higher scores in overall acceptability than 20 g/100 g fortified or control bread for both white and whole-grain breads. The consumption of two servings (56 g each) per day of 40 g/100 g fortified bread would meet the daily folate requirements by 14.3-21.8% in adults and 9.6-14.5% in some special states like women of child-bearing age.