Folic Acid

[AngelaJG]

Hi All,

am I right in thinking that I only take folic acid supplements for around 1 month then stop, or have I misinterpreted something I have read?

Thought I had better check (I am self injecting self diagnosis due to doctors saying nothing wrong). Folic levels when I had my bloods done were 7.2 (I eat loads of dark green veggies and asparagus so would not expect folic acid to be low anyway).

Not sure if folic acid is water soluble, or not so don't want to overdose, and unlikely to have further blood tests anytime soon.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi AngelaJG I can only speak for myself but I've been taking 1 – Folic Acid 400μg tablet every day for as long as I can remember, my latest reading (in March) was 18.2ng/ml (Range 3.10 – 20.50ng/ml) and I eat greens in four or five meals a week and my daily breakfast cereals are fortified with folic acid.

I'm not a medically qualified person but there are others on here who will be able to advise on the safety issue.

However, I receive injections of cyanocobalamin 1000mcg every three weeks as I've had P.A. for 45 years and I'm still "clivealive" at 75.

[AngelaJG in reply to clivealive]

Thanks Clivealive

[clivealive Forum Support in reply to AngelaJG]

You really need to keep your level of folate up as it is used to process the B12 you are injecting. It might be an idea to get it checked at some time in the future - lets see what others advise.

[fbirder]

I'm with clivealive - around 400 to 1000 ug a day should be fine for most people.

[AngelaJG in reply to fbirder]

okay thank you, just wanted to confirm that it was an ongoing supplement not a short term one, thanks both clivealive and fbirder

[PAS-admin Partner in reply to AngelaJG]

Depends a bit on your individual uptake if it's needed ongoing. As long as you inject frequently it won't hurt to take 400mcg a day. If you have/had recurring low folate then take them ongoing.