This seems to be nonsense. Folic acid is hydrogen folate and in body fluids free folate ions and folic acid will equilibrate automatically. The petition may have oversimplified things but as it stands it is absurd...Folate and folic acid are the same thing in practice. Neither are the same as the various active metabolic derivatives.
For what it's worth, here's what I found with a little Googling on the subject. The references below are mainly copied from two articles [
1][
2]:
Folic acid refers to the oxidized synthetic compound used in dietary supplements and food fortification, whereas folate refers to the various tetrahydrofolate derivatives naturally found in food.
http://blog.designsforhealth.com/blog/bid/115121/Folic-Acid-vs-Folate-Part-I
The form of folate that can enter the main folate metabolic cycle is tetrahydrofolate (THF). Unlike natural folates, which are metabolized to THF in the mucosa of the small intestine, folic acid undergoes initial reduction and methylation in the liver, where conversion to the THF form requires dihydrofolate reductase. The low activity of this enzyme in the human liver, combined with a high intake of folic acid, may result in unnatural levels of unmetabolized folic acid entering the systemic circulation.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1343280
The human gut appears to have a very efficient capacity to convert reduced dietary folates to 5-MTHF but limited ability to reduce folic acid...Chronic liver exposure to folic acid in humans may induce saturation, which would possibly explain reports of systemic circulation of unmetabolized folic acid.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/100/2/593
One of the major risks associated with excessive intake of folic acid is the development of cancer.
http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/your-breakfast-giving-you-cancer
http://blog.designsforhealth.com/blog/bid/115121/Folic-Acid-vs-Folate-Part-I
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35874922/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/your-breakfast-giving-you-cancer/
High doses of folic acid 'promotes growth of cancerous cells'
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/271601.php
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140121183414.htm
Our data suggest that folic acid supplementation may promote the progression of established mammary tumors. The potential tumor-promoting effect of folic acid supplementation in breast cancer patients and survivors needs further clarification
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0084635
Several studies have reported the presence of unmetabolized folic acid in the blood following the consumption of folic acid supplements or fortified foods.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17697404
Human exposure to folic acid was non-existent until its chemical synthesis in 1943, and was introduced as a mandatory food fortification in 1998.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18038944
A randomized control trial found that that daily supplementation with 1 mg of folic acid was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/101/6/432.full
In the United States, Canada, and Chile, the institution of a folic acid supplementation program was associated with an increased prevalence of colon cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19190501
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/16/7/1325.abstract
The presence of unmetabolized folic acid in the blood is associated with decreased natural killer cytotoxicity.
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/1/189.short
Since natural killer cells play a role in tumor cell destruction, this would suggest another way in which excess folic acid might promote existing premalignant and malignant lesions.
In one study, consumption of folic acid in excess of 400 micrograms per day among older adults resulted in significantly faster rate of cognitive decline than supplement nonusers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15824266
Folic acid supplementation might increase the risk of colorectal neoplasia
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=207344
Higher folate levels may be associated with faster progression of localized prostate cancer
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/19/11/2833.short
Treatment with folic acid plus vitamin B(12) was associated with increased cancer outcomes and all-cause mortality in patients with ischemic heart disease in Norway, where there is no folic acid fortification of foods.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19920236
Baseline dietary folate intake and plasma folate in nonmultivitamin users were inversely associated with risk of prostate cancer, although these associations did not attain statistical significance in adjusted analyses:
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/101/6/432
Our data suggest that folic acid supplementation may promote the progression of ACF to colorectal tumors.
http://paperity.org/p/42511851/effe...progression-of-colorectal-aberrant-crypt-foci
There continues to be concern that folic acid fortification may have adverse effects in subpopulation groups not originally targeted for fortification...Over the past few years, the US population has been exposed to a significant increase in folate intake, for which essentially no data on safety exist. The potential cancer-promoting effect of folic acid supplementation needs to be considered...on the vast majority of the US population, who are not at risk of NTDs.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/80/5/1123.full
Folate has a dual effect on cancer, protecting against cancer initiation but facilitating progression and growth of preneoplastic cells and subclinical cancers, which are common in the population. Thus, a high folic acid intake may be harmful for some people. Nations considering fortification should be cautious and stimulate further research to identify the effects, good and bad, caused by a high intake of folic acid from fortified food or dietary supplements. Only then can authorities develop the right strategies for the population as a whole.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18326588
In a double blind, placebo controlled randomized trial of 1021 men and women carried out over a 10 year period, “Folic acid was associated with higher risks of having 3 or more adenomas and of noncolorectal cancers.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17551129
And I am not sure what it has to do with PR and ME to be honest.
Well, if methylation is important to ME/CFS, then I would think that eating an enriched-flour product or fortified rice with fake folates would be counterproductive for someone with the MTHFR C677T mutation who had ME/CFS and would therefore have difficulty metabolizing folic acid. Is that not correct?