Riboflavin is made ONLY in plants and some bacteria But and

Riboflavin is made ONLY in plants and some bacteria But _____ and have exceptionally amounts of free riboflavin which is indicative of its importance to fetal development. carrots, lentils milk, eggs non-enriched cereals, non-enriched four rice, beans

Solution

Answer: Milk and Egg.

There are several pieces of evidence of riboflavin deficiency leading to several fetal anomalies such as cleft-lip palate, skeletal and soft tissue abnormality. Free riboflavin is transported in the plasma bound both to albumin and to certain immunoglobulins. There are many other riboflavin binding proteins which are specific to pregnancies and also expressed in fetuses of different species are evidently essential to normal fetal development.

Interestingly, studies have identified a riboflavin binding protein in chicken egg white that is induced by oestrogen and is essential to fetal survival (White HB III, Merrill AH Jr, 1988). Similarly, its presence in bovine milk in free form (not as conjugated form FAD or FMN) is also indicative of its role in the development of the fetus in lactating mother cow. In ruminant animals, it is produced by rumen microflora in sufficient amount, whereas it is present in much less amount in human breast milk and therefore pregnant woman need to take it as a supplement.