So What is Folic Acid? Learn All About It!

What is Folic Acid?

Folic acid, or folate, is a compound required for many of the body's reactions, especially those involving the transfer of a single-carbon group (a methyl group to be specific). In this role, folic acid exists in the form of tetrahydrofolate (THF) and other derivatives.

It's an absolutely essential nutrient for any organism with a backbone or spinal column (all vertebrates!). Folic acid interacts with vitamin B12 and is heavily needed for the creation of red blood cells and the synthesis of new tissues (mainly because of its role in DNA nucleotide synthesis which results in new proteins and, subsequently, new tissue).

Reference Nutrient Intake

A.K.A. Recommended Daily Allowance

As with any other vitamin, mineral or other ingested material, the recommended intake depends on your age, gender, body type and state of health. Here's a short table to help put these values into perspective...

Recommended Daily Intake of Folic Acid (mcg; 1mg =1000mcg)
Infants (0-1yr)	25-40
Kids (1-10yrs)	50-100
Adult Males (11+yrs)	150-200
Adult Females (11+yrs)	140-180
Pregnant	400-440
Nursing	260-280 (more in first 6 months)

Folic acid intake for pregnant women is extremely important to help prevent neural tube defects such as spina bifida and other debilitating or lethal disorders. These are conditions in which the development of the spinal cord is inhibited or incomplete.

Here's a table of some great food sources of folic acid...

Food Sources of Folic Acid
Green Vegetables	Lima Beans
Whole Grains	Liver
Yeast	Various Fruits
Poultry	Legumes

In general, having one raw fruit or vegetable (including that found in juices) per day provide plenty of folic acid for the normal, healthy individual.

Folic Acid Deficiency

I'll start off with talking about folic acid deficiency in pregnant women because this is extremely important. The presence of folic acid at the time of implantation into the uterus is required for proper development of the neural tube (a.k.a. fetal spinal cord). In other words, any female that's capable of having children needs to be taking in at least 400 mcg (or 0.400 mg) of folic acid daily. The reason is that folate-requiring reactions critical to the development of the fetus occur in the very early stages of development. In fact, the woman may not even know she's pregnant until it's too late (these critical reactions occur within the first few weeks of conception, so the time it takes to realize she's missed a period is much too long). It is highly recommended for any woman of child-bearing age to be taking some form of a folate supplement, especially if she plans on becoming pregnant.

Please, if you or anyone you know is thinking about having children, make sure you inform them before they ask you, "what is folic acid?" - by then it may be too late!

So, what is folic acid? A vital nutrient for life!!

Although it's easy to get folic acid from foods (it's present in lots of natural products), extensively cooking these items may destroy the vitamin. Folate deficiency isn't prevalent in developed countries due to the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. However, in developing countries or low-income areas, folic acid deficiencies are much more common because they eat well-cooked foods very often.

One of the main symptoms of folic acid deficiency include megaloblastic anemia (due to the inhibited synthesis of DNA nucleotides which interferes with a cell's ability to replicate its DNA and divide normally). The same symptom can be the result of a vitamin B12 deficiency, so it's important for a physician to test your blood before coming to a quick conclusion (The term "megaloblastic" refers to the abnormally large, nucleated red blood cells found in individuals with either vitamin B12 or folic acid deficiency.)

Chronic alcoholism can also interfere with nutrient uptake because, well, there are very few nutrients in the diet (most of their calories come from beer, wine and liquor). This situation obviously causes a multitude of problems (Alcoholism also commonly results in thiamine deficiency and Beri Beri.

Folic Acid Overdose or Megadose

Vegetarian women who plan to have children should also be aware of having too muchfolic acid. In other words, taking megadoses (an amount much greater than the recommended intake of about 400 mcg daily). The fact is that folic acid in large amounts can interfere with absorption of zinc (one of the essential minerals) in the intestine. Therefore, a pregnant vegetarian woman who takes too much folic acid may end up with a zinc-deficient child. Furthermore, she may also end up with a vitamin B12 deficiency if she is not taking a supplement.

Megadoses of folic acid can also have adverse effects on epileptic individuals taking anticonvulsive medications. Folic acid inhibits the medication thereby resulting in an increased frequency of convulsive episodes.

As a final note, folic acid is one of those critically important nutrients for many biochemical reactions in your body. Hopefully if someone asks you, "What is folic acid?", you'll have a fantastic and correct answer that'll be sure to help him or her. If you forgot, just come back to look it up!

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