Fake Folates

[Asklipia]

A very well put explanation on why they are not a good idea :
http://thehomeschoolingdoctor.com/2...n-whats-in-your-food-what-makes-a-difference/

http://thehomeschoolingdoctor.com/2...n-whats-in-your-food-what-makes-a-difference/

"Excess folic acid binds preferentially over active folates in reactions and it could downregulate intestinal folate uptake receptors, so a person absorbs less food folates."

Asklipia

FFP

 

[alex3619]

This is obvious to me as I am a biochemist. It has a term, competitive inhibition, and its why folic acid is considered toxic. Its not just in the gut though, its also everywhere in the body that it will inhibit folate metabolism.

A similar argument can be made for alpha tocopherol.

 

[alex3619]

http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2014/08/12/folic-acid-controversy-mthfr-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

The Folic Acid Story

 

[adreno]

A similar argument can be made for alpha tocopherol.

Why is that? Alpha tocopherol is part of the vitamin E family.

 

[alex3619]

Why is that? Alpha tocopherol is part of the vitamin E family.

Marty Pall made this case in his book. It has very low bioavailability, and very low effectiveness. Its maybe 1% of the effectiveness of gamma tocopherol. However if you consume it, it can compete for absorption with natural tocopherols.

Gamma or mixed tocopherols, not to mention tocotrienols which are still being researced, are a much better option.

What this also means is that clinical trials that used alpha tocopherol are only valid for alpha tocopherol. That is most of them.

So alpha might save your life if you have severe deficiency, but it wont ever substitute for the more usual forms in food. Its cheap, that is why they use it. Like folic acid is cheaper than methyl folate.

 

[PeterPositive]

Marty Pall made this case in his book. It has very low bioavailability, and very low effectiveness. Its maybe 1% of the effectiveness of gamma tocopherol. However if you consume it, it can compete for absorption with natural tocopherols.

Gamma or mixed tocopherols, not to mention tocotrienols which are still being researced, are a much better option.

What this also means is that clinical trials that used alpha tocopherol are only valid for alpha tocopherol. That is most of them.

So it alpha might save your life if you have severe deficiency, but it wont ever substitute for the more usual forms in food. Its cheap, that is why they use it. Like folic acid is cheaper than methyl folate.

Ouch... my vit E supplement is actually d-alpha-tocopherol (acetate) only
Do you have any relevant resources to read more about this?

I guess I will switch my E supplement to a better form, possibly including all natural elements of the vit E family.

cheers

 

[alex3619]

Most forms of vit E are more expensive than alpha, but bioavailability is so much better that you can take much lower doses and still get a better result, and lower doses will be cheaper. My main source for this is Marty Pall's Explaining Unexplained Illness. However some of it is reasoning from general biochemistry. I have not investigated this very much. The key thing here is bioavailability. There are different classes of vitamin E, but alpha tocopherol is the least useful.

PS That would be Martin L. Pall, of Washington State University. He used to be a Professor Emeritus there, and is a biochemist, but I am not sure of his current status. He is an expert on nitric oxide and peroxynitrate. I got used to calling him Marty during years of occasional debate. Rich VanK and me and Marty were debating the biochemistry. Marty encouraged me to go back to university to finish my biochemistry degree.

If I find a good link I will add it.