4 Reasons to STOP Taking Folic Acid
by Selin Steinacher, Functional Health Coach
The first reason you should avoid taking folic acid is because it’s a synthetic version of vitamin B9 (aka folate). This leads into the second reason, that this is the inactive form of vitamin B9. Our body cannot use this unless it is converted to an active form, which requires an enzyme by the name of methylenetetrahydrofolate (see MTFHR article).
While some of us can convert folic acid easily, there are some people who have a harder time with this. You may be supplementing with folic acid, but this doesn’t mean you are not deficient in B9. Well how does that work? If your ability to convert it to a usable form is impaired, then THAT’S how! This is estimated to affect 40-60% of the population, so keep that in mind.
Another reason to stop using folic acid is because it doesn’t exist in nature. As with many man made synthetic compounds/chemicals – efficiency and low cost do not always equate to quality, don’t forget that. It’s far more cost effective for supplement companies to use folic acid because the estimated cost of ingredients of Quatrefolic (an active form of folate) costs over 200 times as much as folic acid.
Last but most definitely not least is that unmetabolized folic acid has been shown to accumulate. If you know anything about excess chemicals/compounds/hormones accumulating, then you know that this is not ideal for the optimization of your system.
If you’re currently taking folic acid and/or struggling with an MTFHR variance and you would like more assistance in managing this, our coaches are available to take you on! Sign up for a free consultation with Nutrition Dynamic now.
