folate

[suresh786]

is folate test to be taken while fasting?

i was not fasting and got result of 19.1 nmol/L (4nmol/L to 45.3nmol/L)

[fbirder]

Ideally yes. In practice it's not likely to make a huge difference unless you've taken a supplement that morning or had a large meal of creamed spinach (or fortified cereal) beforehand.

15 nmol/L of folate (the amount required to lift you from deficient to the measured level) would be a total of around 450 nmol, or about 200 ug. That's the amount of folate in four servings of cornflakes (or four cups of spinach).

[suresh786 in reply to fbirder]

Thanks.

B12 came as the 466 as compare to previous of 386. I am surprised that the B12 still not very high after injections.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to suresh786]

how long after the injections was the serum B12 test taken?

If you have an absorption problem then your body won't store and recycle B12 as it does when you don't have an absorption problem, so it is filtered out by the kidneys and then excreted in urine. How quickly that happens varies a lot from person to person - so the lack of change in your level may just be an indicator that you are removing the B12 quite quickly

[fbirder in reply to Gambit62]

If you have an absorption problem then your body won't store and recycle B12 as it does when you don't have an absorption problem, so it is filtered out by the kidneys and then excreted in urine.

Actually, it is only the stuff over a certain amount that gets removed by the kidneys. There is a mechanism whereby the B12 that gets filtered out is reabsorbed into the blood. But there's a limit as to how much this mechanism can handle.

So if there's lots of B12 in the blood then all of it gets filtered out, but only some can get reabsorbed.

If there's not a lot in the blood then all of it gets filtered out, but almost all will be reabsorbed.

So when you have an injection the blood levels rise very quickly and lots gets peed out. As the blood levels drop less and less goes out until the levels reach the point where reabsorption is close to 100% - then they will stabilise somewhat.

[suresh786 in reply to fbirder]

My vitamin-d went up to high levels of 86ng/ml..... I do wonder that if i had absorption issue then how much vitamin-d is quickly going up for me but b12 is not

[fbirder in reply to suresh786]

Because Vitamin D and B12 are absorbed by totally different mechanisms.

Absorption problems with B12 are most commonly associated with a lack of IF (Intrinsic Factor) which is a protein needed to escort the B12 molecule from the gut to the blood. It is not involved at all with absorption of vitamin D.

[catherinejordan]

Foliate blood test is a non fasting blood test. You don't have to fast.

[fbirder]

This lab - cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/nh... - recommend, but do not require fasting.

The B12deficiency site says the tests must be on fasting blood - b12deficiency.info/what-to-... - but offer no references.

[suresh786]

My vitamin-d went up to high levels of 86ng/ml..... I do wonder that if i had absorption issue then how much vitamin-d is quickly going up for me but b12 is not