What Your Doctor May Not Know About Folic Acid
Are you pregnant or in the preconception period and have been told to take a prenatal with folic acid? Then this info is especially important for you! I encourage you to dig in.
Folic acid found in enriched foods or supplements, once ingested, has to be activated in our body by an enzyme called DHFR. This is a very slow process, and research indicates that high doses of folic acid from enriched foods and supplementation completely impair the DHFR enzyme, therefore, impairing the ability to activate folic acid into its useful form dihydrofolate. This causes un-metabolized folic acid to circulate in the blood, unable to be utilized by the body.
Folic acid ingestion and metabolism have also been shown to inhibit the MTHFR enzyme, ultimately inhibiting methylation (gene expression and repression…aka…what traits, diseases, etc... we have turned on & off in our body)
Consider that in research 220mcg of folic acid is considered a high dose, but the RDA recommends 400 mcg for adults and 800 mcg for pregnant women. This recommendation is double the limit for the DHFR enzyme to convert it into the active form.
Research shows that women who are supplementing with folic acid are still having babies with neural tube defects, and in 100% of the blood samples in these mothers is un-metabolized folic acid.
So, why are moms with enough folic acid still having babies with neural tube defects? Because neural tube defects are not a folic acid deficiency problem, they are a methylation deficiency. So, if you’re pregnant and supplementing with folic acid (which is in most conventional store-bought prenatal supplements & often still recommended by your OB) you’re impairing methylation and the MTHFR gene thus you’re still at risk, possibly even a greater risk, for having a baby with NTD.
Even further folic acid in either supplement form or enriched foods like bread, pasta, etc… binds more readily to the receptors in our body’s cells than natural folates are able to. So, even if you’re doing your due diligence to eat all those leafy greens with natural folates. If you are eating enriched foods or taking folic acid supplements than your body isn’t able to adequately absorb natural folates.
Research shows that mothers who are taking a high dose of folic acid have much higher rates of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and 98% of those children show MTHFR SNP (gene mutation) which may be related to the overload of folic acid mothers are getting. This issue may progress as the infant is given formula that is fortified with folic acid or through the breast milk of a mother who is taking folic acid.
So, what to do?
Avoid processed foods that are enriched with folic acid
Take a quality prenatal like Seeking Health or Thorne that have active forms of folate instead of synthetic folic acid
Eat 1-2 cups of veggies high in natural folates with each meal like leafy greens, broccoli, beets, asparagus. Eat them raw and uncut when able as cooking and chopping deplete folates
If you need to use formula look for an organic formula that uses an active form of folate vs folic acid