Folate supplements with PA

Hi my question is if you have PA can you take Methylfolate? at the moment I take a super b complex Igennus brand it has 400ug a tablet I take 2 tablets at the moment I was reading that people with PA shouldnt take folate I have just been trying to up mine I take Levothoroxine for Underactive Hashimoto's, can anyone advise me please My last folate test was April last year 18.3 ug/L >2.5 I have been off this B complex for about 6 weeks just started up again. feeling very fatigued thyroid results seem pretty good but the fatigued n hairloss is affecting me I self inject once every 2 to 3 weeks but have just started every week it used to be every 8 weeks at GP. Am I safe to keep taking this complex with folate in if I have PA?

[fbirder]

Yes, you can take methylfolate instead of folic acid. For most people there's no difference (except that methylfolate costs about 10 times as much). A very small percentage of the population may find methylfolate is better than folic acid.

People with PA may have problems absorbing folate from foods, so they may find a supplement useful. 400 mcg a day is recommended. More than 1000 mcg a day may be harmful.

[Hidden in reply to fbirder]

Thank You so 400ug twice a day ok? Not sure what it amounts to in mcgs

[Nackapan in reply to Hidden]

400mcg =400 ug

[Hidden in reply to Nackapan]

Oh that's ok then Thank You

[Hidden in reply to Nackapan]

Is 400mcg a lot to take a day of biotin sorry I'm a bit clueless

[Nackapan in reply to Hidden]

Sorry dont know I take 50mcg in a multivit which is 100%nrv

[fbirder]

Not here you won't have. Lots of clickbait websites tell you a load of nonsense about folic acid and folate.

Almost everybody can easily convert folic acid into the other forms of folate (at least 6). About 10% of the population have a mutation (homozygous for C677T in the MTHFR gene) that reduces the efficiency of one conversion. A few of those people might find that methylfolate works better than folic acid.

[fbirder]

Doesn't surprise me. There's a lot of website out there that will tell you that folic acid is synthetic and folate is natural (as is hemlock). They will tell you that the liver can get exhausted converting folic acid to folate (the conversion happens in all cells).

The truth is that you get a human to swallow folic acid and, when you look later, you will find that it's been converted to all other forms of folate.

As for not being found in nature! If you give a person a high dose of methylfolate and look later, you will find folic acid! The body actually makes this 'unnatural' chemical.

So people google 'folic acid vs folate' and they get 10,000,000 hits. The top ones are mainly real medical/scientific ones with lots of chemical names that sound similar. But the second hit is a page that tells you that folic acid isn't as good as methylfolate. That you cannot absorb it. That it is synthetic. That you really should be taking methylfolate. And, lucky you, we just happen to sell it.

So I'm not surprised that a lot of people think that they need to take methylfolate. They've been brainwashed. And it's difficult to persuade some people otherwise (Mark Twain said "It's easier to con a man, than to persuade him that he has been conned"). The only way is with some science. But that turns a lot of people off.

Here is the science - b12science.com/B12Science/D...

[Nackapan in reply to fbirder]

My daughter has been severely folate defiant she has only ever taken 400mcg folic acid from a supermarket at a reasonable price she can afford as not well enough to work.

She stopped once and then got a sore Mouth ulcers and strange taste . Her bloods showed folate had dropped again. So now takes 400mcg cheap folic acid daily and it works well as a maintenance dose. She is a smart one and makes an informed choice. The dieticians at the hospital support her but cant seem to come to with anything else to help her. Her gastro has dine all the tests but also says dont have the answers also condone how she is trying to eat . They have often praised her for not being g tube fed. So it's best to work out what you need from bloods. The websites are confusing. In any doubt ask a pharmacist.

[Foggyme Administrator]

Espeegee. I've looked back through your posts and I don't see any recent posts on the PAS website (only ones over a year ago).

On checking, it appears that you were given the advice to take methylfolate instead of folic acid on another HU forum (the implication being that methyfolate is somehow 'better' (for want of a better way of putting it without lengthy explanations)).

We do not give that as routine advice on this forum and do aim to address posts or replies where it is suggested that methylfolate is somehow 'better' (for some of the reasons given in other replies here).

Hope this clarifies.

👍

[FlipperTD]

There may be some confusion regarding patients with PA taking any form of folate or folic acid.

As I understand it, B12 deficient subjects should have their B12 deficiency treated before folate treatment is commenced.

Folate shouldn't be started before B12 therapy, but afterwards, it shouldn't be an issue. If I'm wrong here, I am sure someone will point out my errors!

Cheers.

[fbirder in reply to FlipperTD]

Nope. You are, as usual, 100% right.

[FlipperTD in reply to fbirder]

Respect!

[mountainice]

I have the same Igennus super B complex and got confused about dosage. Someone pointed out to me that 2 tablets is the 'serving' so 400ug (mcg) is for two tablets. I know it is confusing.

[Hidden in reply to mountainice]

Hi I thought it meant per serving 1 tablet so 2 tablet 400mcg well thats not a lot some people got that in one tablet in their b complex I'm still trying figure it out its called super b complex

[mountainice in reply to Hidden]

That's good as you said:

I take a super b complex Igennus brand it has 400ug a tablet I take 2 tablets at the moment

------------------

So it sounded like you thought it was 400 per tablet.