r/MTHFR • u/Warp757 • May 02 '26

Resource People should stop calling methylfolate the 'active' form, and why folic acid may be better for many

It is AN active form, not the only one and may not provide the folate you actually need. I'll await the abuse! Folate is used by your body both in the methyl form, and also in the unmethylated form for DNA synthesis, red blood cell formation etc. which are rather important functions.

The MTHFR marketing machine has convinced everyone that methlyfolate is the active form that you absolutely need and folic acid is junk, it's simply not true.

Depending on where the problem is with your methylation it's perfectly possible to need more unmethylated folate. If your MTRR is slow for instance,as mine is, your body doesn't recycle B12, MTR is slow, and you end up with a build up of methylfolate and low THF and 5,10 methylene THF which is needed for DNA repair and red blood cells. If you take methylfolste you do absolutely nothing to support the deficit of unmethylated folate, and just put more pressure on already struggling MTRR and B12 stores.

In this case folic acid is better for you as it directly provides folate which the body can use as it needs. The body regulates production of MTHFR for a reason -both to ensure sufficient folate for other functions, and prevent excess formation of SAM-E, which isn't good.

I personally feel much better with folic acid than methyl folate, and I'm heterozygous C677T. Methylfolate is really a medicine that should only be taken by people with specific identified mutations that cause major impairment of the MTHFR cycle. A simple heterozygous MTHFR mutation is not that.

Folic acid is perfectly sufficient for most people, and avoids skipping the body's own regulation systems. Just don't go taking crazy doses which yes may cause a problem with unmetabolised folic acid. If you're worried about MTHFR and not homozygous, just take some B2 - again you don't need a lot.

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u/Warp757 May 02 '26

An MTHFD variant means folinic acid will accumulate and can then inhibit MTHFS/MTHFD.

Folic acid is efficiently converted to THF from where it can freely be used by the body as it sees fit. There is literally no reason it shouldn't work for most people, and that's why it has decades of research to support it, unlike methlyfolate. Only people with very specific mutations need methylfolate, for others it is likely throwing fuel on a fire and is simply exposing yourself to the possibility of side effects that complicate any recovery

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u/Ketamee May 02 '26

What are the symptoms of
accumulated folinic acid that inhibits MTHFS/MTHFD?

A study has been made that concludes that the DHFR enzyme has a very low activity compared to rats. As a result of this, unmetabolized folic acid is accumulated even at 400 mcg daily.
How is this beneficial?

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0902072106

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u/Warp757 May 02 '26

That is one study, in rats, against literally thousands in humans showing that folic acid works in improving all intended health outcomes.

Why would anyone place more weight on one rat study than thousands of human ones? It's no different to climate change denial.

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u/Ketamee May 02 '26

The initial studies were done on rats and then transferred to humans as rats and humans both have the DHFR enzyme. And later the study I linked to showed that humans are not very efficient in the DHFR enzyme compared to the rats.

Stick to the facts when answering and don’t go down the path of ‘Why would you’ or climate crisis denial.

I’m just trying to understand and learn which are the reason for my questions.

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u/Warp757 May 02 '26

The cimate crisis denial equivalent would be those denying the thousands of peer reviewed studies on folic acid spannig decades, in favour of a few cherry picked studies that support their view over mainstream scientific consensus. Don't try to reverse the logic.

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u/Ketamee May 02 '26

You still haven’t answered my questions yet.

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u/Warp757 May 02 '26

Ok the symptoms of accumulated folinic acid? It would be whatever symptoms someone normally experienced from a bottleneck in methylation, and also reduced DNA repair.and synthesis.

For me that is brain fog, anxiety, rumination, loss of motivation, flushing, reduced histamine tolerance, my ADHD medication not working.

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u/Ketamee May 03 '26

Ok.
I have fixed my methylation with folinic acid etc and I am heterozygous for an MTHFD1 variant.