Our takeaways:
- Many Asian vegetables are rich in folate/folic acid, which can expand your folate intake food sources or provide alternatives for raw veggie intolerant people.
- Flowering might impact the folate richness of the same vegetable (i.e: choy sum).
- If there’s no Asian stores around, you might be able to find buk choy or napa cabbage in big chains such as QFC, Whole Foods, or Fred Meyers etc.
Whether you are raw vegetable intolerant like my husband (i.e: gas, bloating, loose stool), or grew up eating Asian cuisines, or simply looking for more alternatives for folate-rich food, you might want to try stir-frying some Asian veggies. As a curious mom/mom-to-be, you might wonder:
How much folate/folic acid do these Asian veggies supply? Will they help achieve my DV(Daily Value)?
Let’s find out!
Common Asian veggies and their nutrients
Walking down the fresh produce aisle in an Asian grocery store, you will probably see these common dark green leafy vegetables: Bok Choy, Choy Sum, Gai Lan, Tatsoi, and etc. (If you need a reminder of which is which, I’ve added sources with pictures at the end of this post.) They are pretty versatile and tasty: stir-frying, steaming, boiling, or even adding them in your soup are all great.
In terms of their nutrients, unfortunately USDA (The US Department of Agriculture) hasn’t established for and/or incorporated these common Asian veggies into their FoodData Central (which btw is super helpful in understanding nutrients on other food. Here’s a broccoli example). However, I found a comprehensive study conducted by Australian Government Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation in 2011. This study looked deeply into a wide selection of Asian vegetables and provided the answers that I was looking for. Here’s a summary (Ranked in alphabetic order; unit: Folic Acid mcg/100g of veggies).
- Buk choy (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis): 89
- Choy sum (Brassica rapa subsp. parachinensis)
– no flowering evident: 156
– flowering evident: 215 - Gai choy (Brassica juncea): 131
- Gai lan (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra): 143
- Kang kong (Ipomoea aquatica): 197
- Mizuna (Brassica rapa var. nipposinica): 268
- Pak choy (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis): 125
- Snake bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis): 156
- Tatsoi (Brassica rapa var. rosularis): 231
- Wombok/Napa Cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis): 83
Among the results, Tatsoi was a surprise to me with 231 mcg of folic acid per 100g of the vegetable! Before this study, I have already loved the taste and texture of tatsoi, especially when stir-fried with shiitake. Now I am definitely happier to add more to my grocery cart for its health benefit. Moreover, there’s an interesting fact about Choy sum: those with flowering has ~40% more folic acid than those without!
How are these Asian veggies compared to other folate sources?
Now you may be wondering, what do all these numbers mean? Is 89 mcg/100g good or just average? How do I choose between buk choy and broccoli? What about spinach vs gai lan?
Here’s a summary of common folate-rich vegetables in Western cuisine. (Ranked in alphabetic order; unit: Folic Acid mcg/100g of veggies)
- Asparagus: 149
- Brocoli, raw: 65
- Brussels sprouts, cooked: 60
- Kale, raw: 62
- Spinach, raw: 194
Source: USDA FoodData Central
Where to find folate-rich Asian veggies?
If you are in the US like me, there are a bunch of popular Asian grocery stores: 99 Ranch, Asian Family Market, H Mart, Uwajimaya, and etc. Alternatively, you can try online Asian grocery delivery services such as Weee! (Get $20 off across your next two orders using this link)
It’s also worth noting that in some big grocery chains (i.e: QFC, Fred Meyers, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s), you can sometimes find buk choy and napa cabbage as well.
Some final notes
Folic acid is important for pre-/pregnancy and you can find expanded list of food sources from Asian vegetables. On the other hand, there are other pregnancy vitamins and minerals that are essential for both healthy baby and healthy mom! Check out this article: The often forgotten vitamins and minerals in pregnancy
Did you know?
According to ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), when you are pregnant you need 600 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid each day. Meanwhile, you need at least 400 micrograms starting at least 1 month before pregnancy and during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (Source).
Find out more about common folate-rich Asian veggies, including looks and recipes.
Bok Choy, Choy Sum, Gai Lan,Tatsoi
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