Purnava, a subsidiary of Renata Limited, a pharmaceuticals and animal health product company, has introduced folate-enriched eggs for the first time in Bangladesh.

The novel eggs will be available at Tk 220 per dozen in superstores.

Folate, a form of vitamin B-9, is one of the 13 essential vitamins. It is necessary for breaking down nutrients from food, developing blood cells, DNA and RNA. According to experts, folate is essential during periods of rapid growth of children and adolescents, and plays an important role during pregnancy and prenatal development.

A recent study by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Research, Bangladesh (ICCDR,B) and Data for Impact (D41) found that 1.7 crore married women are suffering from malnutrition, which can pose a risk for maternal and child health.

Purnava said its eggs can serve as an essential component to combat malnutrition in women and children. One recent study has also shown that the addition of folate can protect against preterm births.

"We have developed the folate eggs for the good health of consumers," said Md Sirajul Hoque, director of the animal health division of Renata Ltd.

Folate eggs are the latest addition to the product basket of Purnava. It earlier introduced Omega-enriched and Vitamin E-enriched eggs, and both got a good response.

Hoque said the company sells 40,000 dozen of Omega-3 eggs and nearly 20,000 dozen of Vitamin E-enriched eggs each month.

Punava launched its folate eggs early this week.

Apart from food, Purnava said folate is available from folic acid supplements. Converting folic acid to folate directly in human bodies requires several steps of chemical reactions, which take up energy and time. So, eggs are a vital source for directly consuming folate.

The clinical trials performed at Purnava's Bhaluka farm showed that folate-enriched eggs contain at least 35 per cent more of the vitamin than ordinary eggs, which meet 20 per cent of the recommended daily allowance, the company said.

The eggs have been regularly tested at their laboratories using high performance liquid chromatography.