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Another "multi" supplement that contains methylfolate as Metafolin and no folic acid

Bluebell

Senior Member
Messages
392
I've seen a number of multivitamin/multimineral sorts of supplements mentioned in this area of the forum, and many have difficulties of one kind or the other (such as the inherent inflexibility of a pre-determined formula, the undesirable versions of some of the ingredients, the ratios of ingredients, the cost, etc.) Typically they have the folic acid version of folate, and/or the cobalamin version of B12, and/or contain such a high level of ingredients in one pill that most people trying to go "low & slow" would have to fiddle with cutting them up/crushing them.

For methylation and general health purposes, I ended up scrapping most of the supplements I was taking prior to learning about my MTHFR genetic results, and planning a new program with (a startling number of) individual supplements bought from various online sources. I would rather just take a multi that has the lion's share of things that I need daily, or at least a multi-B plus the individual items, but I couldn't find anything that was right for me. The mailman is probably wondering why I'm getting so many rattling packages lately. :)

Tonight I was reading an adrenal health website which recommends a multi that I have not seen mentioned on Phoenix Rising, but it might fit the bill for a few people...

The good points are that it contains no folic acid, does contain methylfolate/Metafolin, and the Metafolin amount is 500 mcg across 6 tablets (so you can take a lower amount if needed, to ramp up). However, it seems to contain B12 cobalamin, but just 68 mcg across 6 tablets. It doesn't have fancy herbal/amino acid add-ons, but seems to have a good array of the basics. It's not inexpensive, at about $30 on Amazon for a 30-day supply; I haven't compared prices for it elsewhere. The product is offered by the Women to Women health clinic in Maine, which is relatively well-known (Dr. Christiane Northrup was a founder of the clinic and practiced there for a long time, but is no longer affiliated with it) and has been open for about 3 decades. It's called "Essential Nutrients". Although the brand is "Women to Women", the multi does not seem to be suitable only for women, as far as I can see. For example, there is no iron in it.

This wouldn't work for me, but I thought it could be of interest to someone, since it is a non-folic-acid multi that contains Metafolin methylfolate and offers the chance of taking a relatively low dose of everything in one intact tablet (or in varying numbers of multiple tablets at different times of day, depending on the desired dose).

Product label with ingredients:
http://www.womentowomen.com/products/essentialnutrients-label.aspx
Product info:
http://www.womentowomen.com/products/essentialnutrients.aspx

I can't quite see how much the clinic sells it for (it's bundled, apparently), but the product is listed on Amazon.com as a standalone item for $30. (My current Amazon links might be influenced by the adrenal health site I was visiting earlier this evening, and I don't want to inadvertently steer anyone here through an affiliate link, so I won't give a hyperlink for that. If you want to check it out on Amazon, it's got 4 customer reviews.)
 

acer2000

Senior Member
Messages
818
FWIW Pure Encapsulations sells several multis that have metafolin in them. I have one called "nutrient 950". There is a more basic one called "Multi t/d". I have seen others as well. They are all pretty expensive.
 

juniemarie

Senior Member
Messages
383
Location
Albuquerque
We should add more that we find so when people are looking for a multi with no folic we have a list of them....I think there are others with no folic or b 12 . I will post any I find.
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
Bluebell
really good find - the fact that the dose is 6 tablets - like you say we can take 1/6th a dose to try them, I too hate taking ind supplements but also hate the messing about cutting tablets up. thanks

edit.....
just looking on amazon but the one on there says 2 packs a day so not the same thing....ah well thought it was easy:(
 

Bluebell

Senior Member
Messages
392
[just looking on amazon but the one on there says 2 packs a day so not the same thing....ah well thought it was easy:(

Maryb, I think that it's packaged to provide 2 packs of 3 tablets each per day, for people who want to take an exactly divided dose in the morning and in the evening. (A lot of people who buy doctor-office-branded supplements seem to want the convenience of having the pills excessively-packaged like this!)

But each tablet appears to have the same ingredients, 1/6th of the "per serving" amounts, at least that is what the product label implies.

If my assumption is correct, there would be nothing stopping you from only taking one per day, or however many you wished to take.

However, my assumption may not be correct. I would be happy to call the Women to Women clinic and ask them about this, if it would help anyone out.
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
Bluebell
thanks for that. The one on the WtoW website looked to be a container(tub) The one on Amazon was a box - you could see the packs. Just wondering if the packs are divided into different vit/mins?
 

Bluebell

Senior Member
Messages
392
Bluebell
thanks for that. The one on the WtoW website looked to be a container(tub) The one on Amazon was a box - you could see the packs. Just wondering if the packs are divided into different vit/mins?

I asked them about that issue of the packaging differences, and a few other issues -- I've received no answer yet.
 

Bluebell

Senior Member
Messages
392
I must say that I am not impressed with the customer service of Women to Women.

Seven days ago I sent them a message on Amazon, as a message from a potential buyer on Amazon to an Amazon seller (which they are). They have NEVER responded to that message. (Most third-party sellers on Amazon are very diligent in responding to this sort of communication. It is usually a make-or-break step in the sale of that item to that potential customer!)

Four days ago I sent them the same message from my email account to their clinic website's email address. They only just now replied to it.

They did not read my message very carefully and didn't answer all the questions. Note that I never said that I had purchased the product.

I will first post my message, and then their reply:

"Dear Women to Women,
With your Essential Nutrients supplement, please explain why you have the tablets in two different packets for each day. Are there differences between what's in the pills in the 2 different packets?
The nutrition information of this supplement that appears on your clinic's website seems to indicate that a serving is 6 tablets, and each tablet has the same composition (in other words, each pill contains 1/6th of the serving size that is listed in the ingredient list).
If someone wants to take just 1 or 2 tablets to start out with a low dose of this collection of nutrients, is that possible to do with the version of this supplement that you are selling on Amazon?
If it's not possible to do with the Amazon version, but it is possible to do with the version of Essential Nutrients that you sell from your own website, please tell me the price of the Essential Nutrients bottle by itself when purchased directly from your own site, as that information is not readily apparent there."

"Thank you for contacting us. I understand that you have a question about the Essential Nutrients that you had purchased through Amazon.com. The formulation that you have that comes in the box, is a bit different than the formulation that we sell directly to our Members. With that being said, of the packets that you have in the box, there is no difference between the cellophane packets that you have, but we do recommend that you take 2 packets/day. If you wanted to start slower, you could try just taking 1 packet/day. You can take 1 pink tablet at breakfast, 1 pink tablet at lunch, and then the white tablet and the Omega 3 tablet at dinner time. We do advise that you take the products on a full stomach to help with digestion and absorption."

Bottom line: it looks like one would need to purchase the Essential Nutrients supplement directly from the clinic - and not from Amazon - to get the bottle that has only one supplement type in it, which can be titrated up, one by one.

They didn't answer my question about how to buy that particular bottle only from the clinic (and not as only one component in different sets of supplements that are targeted towards different health conditions, which seems to be the only way they sell it on their clinic website).

I think they are missing a few tricks regarding their marketing and packaging of this supplement, and certainly are missing the boat with their customer service, particularly the Amazon side of things.
 
Messages
13
Location
Oregon
Did anyone ever happen to find a MultiVit that does not contain BOTH Folic Acid as well as B-12Methylcocalobin? I am COMT++ so need to control my B12 as only the Hydroz type I believe w/ no methyl (at least starting out) but don't want to drop a multi entirely. Suggestions appreciated!
 
Messages
13
Location
Oregon
Thanks, Lynn! Got real excited when i took a look at Dr.Ben's you suggested but then saw it unfortunately has 180 mg Niacin (900% RDA). Wow...dang it because Niacin and I do not get along at all. Seems to be one of my Mast Cell triggers. (In fact I'm concerned about Niacin being a methyl "sponge" recommended to relieve symptoms of over methylating in case my body accidently goes hog-wild.) So I will keep looking for a non-B12/non-folic acid/non-niacin multivitamin...and hopefully one exists somewhere!
 

Lynn_M

Senior Member
Messages
208
Location
Western Nebraska
TSoule,
Most of the niacin in B-minus is in the form of inositol hexanicotinate, with a lesser amount of nicotinic acid. Does the inositol hexanicotinate cause you the same kind of problems as instant release niacin? I left a comment at the page for B-minus, asking if the amount of niacin in the product would impair methylation.
 
Messages
13
Location
Oregon
Thank you for digging deeper! I really have no idea if I react to inositol hexanicotinate; sorry, I'm brand new at this! Appreciate you emailing Dr.Ben to get the specifics. Maybe I'd just have to try one and see how it goes. There must be a good reason the amount is so high that I just don't understand quite yet as a newbie. Thank you!