Fruits are ordinarily an excellent source of folate, which is the natural equivalent of folic acid found in foods. When you combine ample fruits with vegetables in your daily diet, you can meet up to a third of your folate needs. Ohio State University reports that fruits qualify as a good source of folate if they provide 10 percent or more of the US Recommended Daily Allowance based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. If you do not meet your body's requirement for folate, a kind of anemia can result. Conditions that increase your need for folate include pregnancy, liver disease and alcohol abuse.
Apples
Although apples are a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin C, apple slices with the skin removed supply no folate in a one cup serving. If you don't peel the fruit, you'll get 3.8mcg for the same serving, but this is still only 1 percent of the US Recommended Daily Allowance.
Cranberries
A cup of raw cranberries has 1.1mcg of folate, but this provides zero percent of the US Recommended Daily Allowance for a 2,000 calorie per day diet. Cranberry juice, with a higher concentration of berries per serving, has 2.5mcg of folate, but this is still only 1 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance.
Fruits That Do Not Meet RDA Requirements
Some fruits contain folate in such small amounts that they provide only 1 percent of your daily requirement on a 2,000 calorie per day diet and thus fall grossly short of the RDA's requirements. According to Nutrition Data, these include sweet cherries, watermelon, kumquats, grapes, limes and quince. A one cup serving of sweet cherries or watermelon balls provides only 1 percent of your daily requirement. One average-sized kumquat provides only 3.2mcg of folate. The same serving size of either red or green grapes has only 3.0mcg. A lime has 5.4mcg but this is still only 1 percent of your daily allowance. One average-sized quince has 2.8mcg of folate. Apricots and pears contain slightly more folate per serving at 3 percent of RDA.
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