“Vitamin B9?”Here!folate / folic acid
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As a supplement
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A B vitamin required for DNA synthesis and cell division. Folate is the form naturally found in food; folic acid is the synthetic form used in supplements and fortified foods.
Why it’s used
Taken to meet folate needs — particularly to support normal fetal development during pregnancy — and to correct folate-deficiency anemia.
What the evidence is for
reducing neural tube defect risk when taken before and during early pregnancy, and correcting folate-deficiency anemia.
What the evidence says
NIH ODS states that folic acid supplementation before and during early pregnancy is well established to reduce the risk of neural tube defects, and that folate deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia; evidence for other proposed benefits, such as cognitive effects in people who are not deficient, is considerably weaker.
Dose studied
400–1000 mcg — adult RDA up to the tolerable upper intake level, per NIH ODS.
Context
NIH ODS lists the RDA at 400 micrograms dietary folate equivalents per day for adults, rising to 600 micrograms during pregnancy, with a tolerable upper intake level of 1,000 micrograms of folic acid per day from fortified foods and supplements.
Rumors
Preventing the neural tube defects folate deficiency causes in early pregnancy, and correcting its megaloblastic anemia — weakness, fatigue, trouble concentrating and breathlessness.
Supports — establishedhealth and safety evidence
Studied in: women capable of becoming pregnant / pregnant women.
Measured as an outcome.
- Folate - Health Professional Fact Sheet (Regulatory) · Funding not checked
How much is a reference amount
- 400 mcg DFE a dayfor adults 19 and over · Recommended Dietary Allowance
Upper limit 1,000 mcg a day, from supplements and fortified foods — it does not apply to the nutrient as it occurs in food and only to synthetic folic acid — not to folate as it occurs in food.
The RDA is in dietary folate equivalents; the UL is in mcg of SYNTHETIC folic acid from supplements and fortified foods only — the FNB set no UL for folate from food. A label stating plain mcg cannot be compared to the DFE figure without knowing the form.
Every applicable line is shown because we don’t know which one is yours, and a reference intake is a target for a population, not a threshold for harm.