How much folic acid a day do you need?

[Laura221]

I'm having weekly B12 injections, and my folic acid was 4.5 before injections (4-26 is the range). My GP says I'm fine and don't need to supplement, but others (on the internet) say I need to take 5mg a day. Do you guys supplement with folic acid?

[fbirder]

That's one of the problems with the Internet - people spouting garbage. Far too many people assume that if some is good then more must be better.

400 ug a day should be fine for most people, 800 ug a day should be more than enough for just about everybody. 5 mg per day is what the doctor would prescribe for short-term treatment of a severe deficiency.

For peace of mind I would take 400 ug a day and eat more green leafy veg. A handful of spinach can be stirred (at the last minute) into many dishes to provide folate, colour and flavour.

[fbirder]

Oh, I forgot...

Some people will give you the impression that supplementing B12 means you need more folate than normal people. That's not correct. Everybody needs enough folate - which will be the same regardless of how much B12 they are taking.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Laura221

I always advocate that people on this forum who are supplementing B12 (or iron) by whatever means or for whatever reason ensure that they have their Folate checked as a "healthy" level is essential to process them.

Personally I have taken 1 – Folic Acid 400μg

every day for more years than I can remember but then I have also been prescribed 1 – Iron Ferrous Fumerate 210mg daily as well as having injections of cyanocobamalin every month for 45 years so my "need" for Folate supplentation is probably larger than most.

As fbirder says "Everybody needs enough folate" the main thing with us is not to get deficient.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

5mg is an extremely high dose of folate - a pharmaceutical dose that is used to treat a folate deficiency known to have been caused by an absorption problem that has already resulted in anaemia - its far more than most people will need.