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Is there any research which shows high doses of folate can break a folate trap?

Busson

Senior Member
Messages
102
It's a common recommendation that if you have a methylfolate trap (an accumulation of unprocessed methylfolate which exits the cell to leave a state of folate deficiency) then it can be broken by taking very large quantities of methylfolate.

(This approach assumes you have dealt with any B12 problem which might have been causing the methylfolate to accumulate.)

My own experience is that taking a lot of methylfolate when you have a methylfolate trap only makes things much worse. I wasn't willing to risk the gargantuan doses that I sometimes read about, such as 10 or 20 mg, but I found that my folate trap symptoms would resolve on their own after several days if I took no folate.

Is there any scientific research or biological explanation to support the idea that very large doses of folate can break a methylfolate trap? My Googling hasn't found anything.
 

hb8847

Senior Member
Messages
432
Location
United Kingdom
My own experience is that taking a lot of methylfolate when you have a methylfolate trap only makes things much worse. I wasn't willing to risk the gargantuan doses that I sometimes read about, such as 10 or 20 mg, but I found that my folate trap symptoms would resolve on their own after several days if I took no folate.

This was my experience too. What fixed it for me was relatively high doses of other non-methylated B-Vitamins (Biotin, Riboflavin, Niacin, etc).
 
Messages
22
I would wonder if you had insufficient B12 to actually work with the folate. Just remember that for a lot of us that we need more b12 than folate and taking a 5mg b12 tablet doesn't mean you will get 5mg of b12. Tablets have a very low absorption rate and while subliminal's are better i did read somewhere that the taking 5mg of those would only net you 1mg of b12. If i am correct i did read that Freddd said that approx 3.4mg would be sufficent to overcome most if not all sufficiency's.
 

Busson

Senior Member
Messages
102
I would wonder if you had insufficient B12 to actually work with the folate.

That's true. No matter how much B12 I take it seems to not be enough. I think I may have some problem on the B12 pathway cause by bad genes (although my folate genes, including MTHFR, are okay).

I didn't think the amount of B12 is a factor behind the advice to take huge doses of methylfolate to break a trap. I tended to understand that the extra methylfolate does something to move folate back into the cell.
 
Messages
22
That's true. No matter how much B12 I take it seems to not be enough. I think I may have some problem on the B12 pathway cause by bad genes (although my folate genes, including MTHFR, are okay).

I didn't think the amount of B12 is a factor behind the advice to take huge doses of methylfolate to break a trap. I tended to understand that the extra methylfolate does something to move folate back into the cell.

I have been taking a a B12 called BioCeuticals Methyl B12. It apparently allows the b12 into the cell. I have noticed that this b12 for me seems more effective than all the others that i have tried. Maybe worth while having a look into.