folic acid
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GC: n’

S: WHO – http://www.who.int/elena/titles/intermittent_iron_pregnancy/en/ (last access: 11 November 2016); DRG – https://goo.gl/KVJ0ia (last access: 11 November 2016); MEDP – https://goo.gl/SlUW4n (last access: 11 November 2016).

N: 1. folic (adj): 1941, in folic acid, coined from Latin folium “a leaf” + -ic.
acid (
n): 1690s, from acid (adj.); originally any substance tasting like vinegar; modern chemical use is by 1727.
2. A yellow, crystalline vitamin of the B complex; it is slightly soluble in water, usually occurs in conjugates containing glutamic acid residues, and is found especially in plant leaves and vertebrate livers.
3. Folic acid is tasteless and odorless, slightly soluble in methanol and sparingly soluble in water. It is used mostly in medicine and in nutrition as a food additive. The daily maximum ingestion should not exceed 0.01 mg.
4. Folic acid used to be called “L. casei factor”, “vitamin Bc” and “vitamin M”. When commercially synthesized, it is known as “pteroylglutamic acid” (abbreviated “PGA”).
5. The pure substance is called “folic acid” or “folacin”.
6. Chemical formula: C19H19N7O6.
7, Folate and folic acid are forms of a water-soluble B vitamin. Folate occurs naturally in food, and folic acid is the synthetic form of this vitamin. Since 1998, folic acid has been added to cold cereals, flour, breads, pasta, bakery items, cookies, and crackers, as required by federal law. Foods that are naturally high in folate include leafy vegetables (such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce), okra, asparagus, fruits (such as bananas, melons, and lemons) beans, yeast, mushrooms, meat (such as beef liver and kidney), orange juice, and tomato juice. Folic acid is used for preventing and treating low blood levels of folate (folate deficiency), as well as its complications, including “tired blood” (anemia) and the inability of the bowel to absorb nutrients properly. Folic acid is also used for other conditions commonly associated with folate deficiency, including ulcerative colitis, liver disease, alcoholism, and kidney dialysis. Women who are pregnant or might become pregnant take folic acid to prevent miscarriage and “neural tube defects,” birth defects such as spina bifida that occur when the fetus’s spine and back do not close during development.

S: 1. OED – https://goo.gl/zRv2jh (last access: 11 November 2016). 2 to 7. TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/n5PYhA (last access: 11 November 2016). 8. WEBMD – https://goo.gl/j123w1 (last access: 11 November 2016).

SYN: folacin, pteroylglutamic acid, PGA, L. casei factor, liver Lactobacillus casei factor, vitamin Bc, vitamin M. (context”)

S: TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/n5PYhA (last access: 11 November 2016)

CR: pregnancy, vitamin.