A body operates at its best when all levels of micronutrients are within the correct ranges, including minerals and vitamins.
Having too much folate in your system can lead to health problems. Folate may also refer to folic acid.
In this article, we take a deeper dive into folate levels. We explore why they are significant for health and what you can do to bring them back to normal levels if they’re too high.
Read on for more information!
Folate Levels: Too High or Too Low?
Healthy folate levels help ensure the normal functioning of your body.
What is Folate?
Folate is another name for vitamin B9. There’s a lot of hype around getting enough B12. All of the different forms of vitamin B are essential, but in this section we’ll look specifically at the importance and usages of B9.
Folate, also called folic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that isn’t produced in the body. Folate must be obtained through diet or supplementation. Folate-rich foods include leafy greens and citrus fruits.
Folic acid, which is a synthetic form of folate, is a common supplement in commercially available processed foods including pasta, cereals, and bread.
Why is Folate Necessary?
Folate has many important functions in the body, including the following.
Red blood cell production: red blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. In its active form, tetrahydrofolate (THF), folate helps synthesize DNA and RNA, which is essential for cell growth and cell division and for the formation of mature cells.
As part of red blood cell production, folate also helps with the formation of heme. Heme is the part of hemoglobin that contains iron. This oxygen-transporting protein helps carry oxygen throughout the body.
Folate deficiency can result in macrocytic anemia, which is characterized by fewer but larger, immature red blood cells. It can also lead to the premature death of cells in bone marrow.
Heart health: Folate reduces homocysteine levels to help maintain a healthy heart. Homocysteine is an amino acid that is a building block of proteins. Scientists don’t know its function yet, but high homocysteine levels are associated with heart disease, blood clots and stroke, as well as Alzheimer’s Disease and osteoporosis.
Neural tube development: During early pregnancy, the fetus develops a neural tube which later becomes the brain and the spine. Folate deficiency can lead to birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly.
Anti-cancer: Folate helps prevent cellular mutations that may lead to cancer.
Sources of Folate: Where Does it Come From?
Since folate is not produced by the body, it must be obtained through food or supplements. The richest folate sources include dark leafy green vegetables (spinach, arugula, kale, collard greens, chard, etc.), preferably raw or very lightly cooked.
Boiling folate-rich foods means much of this essential vitamin leaches into the cooking water. You can optimize folate in cooked vegetables by lightly cooking or steaming them. You can also consume the cooking liquid.
Other plant-based sources of folate include asparagus, broccoli, legumes, which include beans, peas and lentils. Folate may also be found in nuts, seeds, citrus fruits, bananas, fortified bread, pasta, cereals and brewer’s yeast.
Animal sources include any kind of meat, eggs, liver, dairy products, and seafood.
How Much Folate Acid is Too Much?
Healthy folate levels are important for everyone, but especially for pregnant women, who may need as much as 50 percent more than the recommended levels for the average adult.
Most adults need 400 micrograms (mcg) of folate daily. Pregnant women need 800 mcg, and should maintain levels around 500 mcg while breastfeeding.
Normal folate levels are greater than 2 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) of blood. Borderline levels are 2-4 ng/mL, and you are considered deficient if you have less than 2 ng/mL of folate in your blood. These measurements are determined by a blood test.
You can get too little folate if you don’t eat many vegetables or if you only eat boiled or otherwise heavily cooked vegetables. Other factors that lower folate levels include certain medications, heavy alcohol consumption, pregnancy/breastfeeding, and malabsorption disorders.
Excessively high folate levels can be caused by a number of factors, including supplements, high intake of fortified foods, certain medications, genetics, high alcohol consumption, and underlying medical conditions, including liver disease.
We recommend getting one’s folate levels tested and analyzed by a medical professional. Folate levels that are too high may result in a doctor recommending cutting back on fortified foods and eliminating supplements that may be causing an excessively high folate level.
If too low or if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you may be advised to take folic acid supplements. But don’t do this on your own, to prevent developing levels that are too high.
Symptoms of High Folate Levels
It can be surprising how easy it is to develop high folate levels even with a healthy diet that is rich in leafy greens and without any medications that would affect folate absorption.
High folate levels are quite common these days. Many commercially available foods are fortified with folic acid so it’s hard to get away from it. Folate levels could exceed normal limits if you take too many B-complex supplements and eat a lot of fortified foods.
Over-the-counter multivitamins and B-complex vitamins should be taken with caution to prevent excessively high folate levels. If you’re taking a B-complex supplement now for fatigue, anemia, heart palpitations or other symptoms, beware: you may be getting too much. Only regular blood tests can rule out swinging the pendulum to too-high folate levels.
The symptoms of high folate levels include gastrointestinal issues like abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting and nausea, brain fog, sleep problems, irritability, skin rashes, increased risk of pancreatic cancer, and in rare cases, seizures.
Certain higher-risk groups include pregnant women who may be over-supplementing with folic acid, and people with liver disease. People who take methotrexate and certain other medications may also be at risk.
Long-Term Health Impact of High Folate Levels
It’s not uncommon for micronutrient levels to fluctuate, but chronically high folate levels can contribute to long-term health issues.
First, an excess of folate may mask a vitamin B12 deficiency. This deficiency can lead to neurological problems including age-related cognitive decline since the brain is highly dependent on B12 for the formation of the myelin sheath, which protects neurons.
Over the long-term, high folate levels include an increased risk for certain cancers including pancreatic, colorectal, and prostate cancer.
Another long-term challenge is what to do with folic acid that isn’t metabolized by the body. If folic acid can’t be converted into its active form, unmetabolized folic acid (UMFA) builds up in the blood. While researchers don’t fully understand the implications of this, it’s never good when a substance builds up in the body and can’t be released.
High folate levels have been associated with accelerated age-related cognitive decline, especially in people whose high folate levels mask a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Since folate is intricately involved with DNA and gene expression, high levels may cause, contribute to, or accelerate age-related diseases by dysregulating gene expression.
Examples include silencing of tumor-suppressing genes and genomic instability (leading to cancer); disruption of DNA repair pathways (again, leading to cancer); and increased risk of neurological disorders.
Perhaps the most dangerous long-term effects occur in children where excessive folate levels (during pregnancy as well as in early childhood) can affect normal brain development.
How to Optimize Folate Levels
First and foremost, we recommend getting your bloodwork done to have precise numbers.
Whether you’re trying to raise or lower your folate levels, drink plenty of water. Folate is a water soluble vitamin, which means extra folate leaves your body in urine. Even if your folate levels are low, staying hydrated helps all of your cells work better.
It helps to read labels carefully and to consult with a medical professional before making dietary changes to correct folate levels.
To raise folate levels:
Start by eating more folate-rich foods, especially raw or minimally cooked leafy green vegetables. Lightly steam or cook vegetables on low heat to preserve folate.
Add fortified foods including commercially made bread, flour, pasta, cereals, fruit juice, rice, cornmeal, some eggs, and some legumes.
With your doctor’s supervision, take folic acid supplements. Consider “active folate” supplements which are more easily expelled by the body if it reaches excessive levels, and is less likely to mask a B12 deficiency.
Limit or eliminate alcohol consumption, which interferes with folate absorption.
To lower folate levels:
Significantly cut back or eliminate fortified foods and folic acid supplements. Be aware that multivitamins and B-complex vitamin supplements may raise your folate levels too much.
It’s common to get folic acid from several sources, so be aware where you’re getting it, and cut back as necessary.
We also recommend that individuals who want to optimize their health try red light therapy.
Red light therapy is a non-invasive, natural light-based treatment you can do at home to give your cells a boost. Much like plants convert sunlight to energy, we humans also convert specific wavelengths of light to cellular energy which has a positive ripple effect on health.
For those who may have heard various things, it may help to get acquainted with some of the myths about red light therapy.
For more information, check out the BIOMAX Series Pro, the most advanced consumer red light therapy panels on the market.
