3.4. Effect of ascorbic acid in folic acid extraction
Due to susceptibility of folic acid and its reduced derivatives to oxygen, antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and, to a lesser extent, 2-mercaptoethanol is added in the extraction buffer to inhibit the oxidation loss. Table 2 shows the comparison of the folic acid content of the foods extracted with and without ascorbic acid in the buffer at 121C for 10 min and measured by the microbiological assay. The results showed that ascorbic acid in the extraction buffer offered better protection against oxidation as indicated by significantly (p