Folate and biotin.

[Calceolaria]

Advice on here has been it’s ok to continue with folate and B12 separately up until blood tests but my GP ( catching on!) website says folate and biotin can ( as we know) alter results. I have continued with folate and B12 but stopped B Complex. Is this ok? Confused!

[helvella Administrator]

I am not aware of any specific interaction of folate on blood tests except, obviously, on the results you'd expect from a folate test.

My lack of awareness is in no way proof there is no interaction. If ANYONE has any information about such an interaction, please let me and us know!

[traveltime in reply to helvella]

Morning helvella. I confess to using an ai engine to supplement, test or otherwise drive my medical research. If I ask it about folate/ biotin and tests it gives a a few issues: relating to amount of supplementation, half life of factors, tests being done, masking, and also biotin interfering with some actual tests because of the test process. I haven’t read or tested the ai output or checked sources etc yet. It’s a massive amount to paste here but the summary is to stop supplements (if poss) 7 days before the blood draw and to be mindful of specific results that may be masked. If you know what you’ve done you can theoretically interpret results it seems.

[helvella Administrator in reply to traveltime]

There are many, many reports of biotin interference. (And oodles of other things!)

But I have searched and trawled and, just now prompted by you, also used an AI source.

The only issues I can find for folic acid, methylfolate or folinic acid are the totally obvious folate, and the fairly likely/obvious B12, the probable homocysteine, and (I would add from caution) methylmalonic acid. Plus any MTHFR gene test.

It did take some time for biotin to be accepted as an interferant, and even longer for action to be taken. Even now, the desirable action of making tests that are not susceptible to biotin has not been achieved. Therefore, I am absolutely open to the possibility. But it does seem odd that, from the evidence so far, one GP is saying this and no-one else.

[Tina_Maria]

I had a quick search but I could not find anything that could point towards folate interacting with blood tests.

There is however the advice to have no folate supplements at least 8h before the test and also to skip breakfast (especially when ingesting folate or folic acid rich foods), as this could falsely elevate blood tests.

Other drugs that can impact folate levels include alcohol, birth control pills, oestrogen, anti-cancer drugs, and anti-seizure medications. This would be more relevant if you have just started or stopped your medication - if you are on any medication long-term, you would just take the 'with medication' result as the baseline.