Why folic acid and methyl folate RDA is different?

[Hamayeshguy]

If you Google it you'd see there are two different recommend daily allowance dose is out there. Which one should be picked?

[Nackapan]

I go by my blood tests .

I Only use folic acid that's in s multivit .

200mcg. As I don't need more.

Something j can absorb ftom food!!

The NHS recommend 400mcg for all women of child bearing age .

Some RDA are different for men and women.

Different forms of folate different RDA.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Generally the body has to do some work to get vitamins and minerals to the right form for them to be used - it is quite common for different forms of a vitamin/mineral to have different RDAs because of this. That's probably the reason

[helvella]

On the simplistic grounds of molecular mass alone, you'd expect a difference!

Folic acid 441.4 g/mol

Methylfolate 459.46 g/mol

That is, methylfolate is 104.09% the weight of the same number of molecules of folic acid.

Obviously that does not explain all the differences you mioght find, just one contributory factor.