If you eat oatmeal you may–or may not–obtain folic acid, but you’re sure to get some folate. The amount of either one depends on the type of oatmeal. Folic acid and folate are two forms of the same B-complex vitamin, so they both provide the same health benefits, but there are differences between the two forms and the type of oatmeal you’ll find them in.
Folate and Folic Acid
Even though they're the same nutrient, folic acid is a synthetic form used to enrich foods and folate is the natural form found in foods such as fruits, green leafy vegetables, beans and peas. They function the same in your body, but folic acid is absorbed more easily than folate, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. Food labels use the term "folate" to tell you the total amount of both you'll gain from one serving. The USDA Nutrient Database reports the amount of folic acid, natural folate and "total folate" in each type of food. It also calculates a dietary folate equivalent, or DFE. The DFE includes both forms, considers their absorption differences and creates one value for the amount of folate. The Institute of Medicine recommends that adult men and women consume 400 micrograms of this nutrient each day.
Importance
Folic acid is vital to chemical processes in your body that build and maintain new cells by metabolizing nucleic acids and amino acids. Nucleic acids carry genetic information that’s essential for normal growth and development. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, including enzymes and hormones. These roles make folic acid so important during periods of growth, such as pregnancy and infancy, that the FDA requires breads, cereals, flours, pasta, rice and other grain products to be enriched with folic acid. Folic acid also reduces your risk of heart disease by lowering levels of homocysteine, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
Instant Oatmeal
Folic acid is used to fortify instant oatmeal. The amount of folic acid in 100 grams of enriched instant oats prepared with water ranges from 39 to 52 micrograms. Values reported in the USDA Nutrient Database indicate that name-brand instant oatmeals have about 50 to 52 micrograms of folic acid, while generic oatmeal has 39 to 47 micrograms. In addition to folic acid, all types of instant oatmeal also have about 6 micrograms of folate per 100 grams of prepared cereal.
Regular Oatmeal
Regular oatmeal is not always enriched with folic acid, so it’s important to check the Nutrition Facts label on the oatmeal you buy. Plain oats that have not been fortified contain no folic acid. A 100-gram serving of unenriched oats prepared with water contains 6 micrograms of folate.
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