Folic Acid
 

I am wondering how many people here with PN take folic acid????

What are your benefits by taking it????

Folic acid is not the active form for folate you know?

Most people with low B12 will have high folate in tests, because of the methyl trap...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folic_acid

Because many foods in US are now fortified with folic acid,
deficiency is less common. However in those with MTHFR enzyme defects, methylation (activation) does not happen, so folic acid is useless.

There is some thought that folic acid prevents or competes with
folate at the blood brain barrier. That means real actions of folate may be blocked in some people. Natural folates occur in veggies, etc.

Folic acid deficiency shows up as anemia pretty quickly, and can be identified that way.

Methylfolate is included in Metanx vitamins. But we don't see many people here who post testing results showing low folate. So how involved in PN it is remains confusing.

The only deficiency I have is Folic Acid and my neurologist prescribed Folic Acid daily. I can't see that I have improved with this but only time will tell.
I think a test was done to see whether I can metabolise Folic Acid but no one mentioned whether I could or not so I am assuming I can.

Folic Acid is also helpful to lower elevated homocysteine levels.

Yes, that is a very good reason to take it and B12.

FWIW I tested very low for folate repeatedly. The specialist seemed to indicate that it was a common problem with alcohol abuse.

Taking folate acid didn't change the values. I started taking methylfolate a week ago and will check if this works. (L-methylfolate 1000mcg/day)

I don't know how it's related to PN, but in my case it's a good idea to try to "top up" so to get into the normal range.

I found this interesting:

A lack of dietary folates leads to folate deficiency, which is uncommon in normal Western diets.[citation needed] A complete lack of dietary folate takes months before deficiency develops as normal individuals have about 500–20,000 µg[9] of folate in body stores.[10] This deficiency can result in many health problems, the most notable one being neural tube defects in developing embryos. Common symptoms of folate deficiency include diarrhea, macrocytic anemia with weakness or shortness of breath, nerve damage with weakness and limb numbness (peripheral neuropathy)[citation needed], pregnancy complications, mental confusion, forgetfulness or other cognitive declines, mental depression, sore or swollen tongue, peptic or mouth ulcers, headaches, heart palpitations, irritability, and behavioral disorders. Low levels of folate can also lead to homocysteine accumulation.[7] DNA synthesis and repair are impaired and this could lead to cancer development.[7]

Did you know there IS a difference between folate and folic acid?

I didn't. Now I do, lol

I think folate is healthier than folic from what I read.

I have posted many times about this difference.

Folic acid is synthetic and must be activated by MTHFR enzymes like B12 does to its methyl form.

People with the genetic error therefore cannot make it.
Active folate is in some foods naturally however.

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/72/5/567.full