Low folate

[Gcart]

Wonder if anyone can help please.

When buying some vits in health food shop I noticed that they sold folate supplements

It was Solgar brand , so good.

My Husband being low, would be it ok to use them.

We eat well and make sure leafy greens etc are everyday . Really like them anyway.

So is it worth supplementing and any dangers, i.e. Overloading? Iron?

Thanks

Gill X

[Clutter]

Gcart,

If B12 is within range it is okay to supplement folic acid or methylfolate to improve folate. Folate is a water soluble vitamin so you won't overload as excess is excreted in urine. I don't understand what you are asking about iron?

[Gcart in reply to Clutter]

Thanks it is because of high haemoglobin and high

Haematocrit ,iron panel a few weeks ago with GP

Not sure it might make those levels higher.

It's hard, don't want to make things worse.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Clutter]

I'd be rather more circumspect about excess Folic acid.

Adverse effects

Folic acid is generally considered to be a safe supplement. Its toxicity and adverse effects have been studied across a wide range of dosages and in different populations. In a review article that summarized the literature between 1966 and 1994, the potential side effects of folic acid were listed to be difficulty in ruling out B12 deficiency, interaction with drugs that inhibit folate metabolism, decreased zinc absorption, hypersensitivity reactions, association with malignancy, neurotoxicity and epileptogenic effects and increased susceptibility to malaria [79]. Weight loss, gastrointestinal, neurologic and psychiatric side effects were observed in an unblinded, uncontrolled trial after a month of taking 5 mg, three-times/day folic acid, which lead to study cessation [80]. Moreover, these effects were not observed in randomized, double–blind, placebo-controlled studies with the same dose of folic acid for 4 weeks [81,82].

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Gill, your husband's B12 is too low. From your post about your husband's results healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

B12 305 (anything under 500 can cause neurological problems)

Folate 15.88 (8.83-60.8)

He needs to supplement with Solgar or Jarrows sublingual methylcobalamin lozenges 5000mcg daily for about 2 months for the low B12 then reduce to 1000mcg daily as a maintenance dose.

When taking B12 we need a B Complex to balance the B vits. As B Complex contains Folate this will raise his Folate level. Thorne Basic B is a very good one, it contains 400mcg methylfolate, all the B vits are in a bioavailable form.

Is he doing anything about his low ferritin level?

[Gcart in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks for getting back I. Am finding it a bit difficult , both of us to manage.

Yes I bought Solgar b12 5,000. Which he stared yesterday.

Apart from makin sure ferritin rich food , then nothing more.

So will get Thorne basic b for both of us. For the folate content .

Getting there🙂

Husbands gp did bloods a few weeks ago

From iron panel done recently red blood cell count

Haemoglobin estimation. 180. (130-170)

Haemaocit. 0.522. (0.40-0.52)

So I was concerned , not knowing what that would mean in regard LOW levels

Ferritin and folate.

If there is any relationship that would cause a problem and higher the wrong ones 🤔

He had blood taken a few years ago because it was even higher then, oh its so complicated ,I don't want to make anything worse.

Hope I t makes sense.

Thanks also Clutter. It was because of the high levels as above that I asked the question.

Thanks you so much for help you give. X X

[Clutter in reply to Gcart]

GCart,

I don't think supplementing methylcobalamin and folic acid or methylfolate will affect iron or haemoglobin.

High values for haemoglobin and haematocrit are explained in labtestsonline.org/understa...

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Gcart]

Ah yes, you made liver and onions didn't you . A weekly meal of liver should be a great help where Ferritin is concerned. I use about 120g per meal but I think it's OK to have more than that, possibly up to 200g a week but be careful not to overdo it because of the high Vit A content.

I see Clutter has given you the link to Labtests Online, that's what I would have done, I have to look up what the other iron results mean.