Folate vs Folic Acid: Differences and Metabolism
Folate is a generic term for the B-complex vitamin B9, which is water-soluble. The name folate comes from the Latin word “folium,” meaning leaf, as significant amounts are present in green leafy vegetables.
Upon absorption through the intestinal wall, dietary food folates undergo several enzymatic conversions before the body can utilize them.
Folic acid, on the other hand, is the oxidized form of folate and was first synthesized in a pure crystalline form in the 1940s. It is common in dietary supplements and fortified foods, such as pasta, cereal-based products, enriched bread, and fruit juice. While it has no biological functions and doesn’t occur naturally, the human body metabolizes and reduces it to 5-MTHF using multistep enzymatic processes to make it usable.
Active form of folate: 5-MTHF
The biologically active form 5-MTHF, the predominant physiological form of folate found in blood and in umbilical cord blood, is widely available as a food ingredient and doesn’t require metabolization.
Supplementation with active folate 5-MTHF bypasses the entire folate metabolization and 5-MTHF is directly absorbed to exert the biological activity. Therefore, using 5-MTHF as a food supplement instead of FA is strongly recommended for external supplementation.
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