2000mcg Folic Acid?

[mum2daisypie]

Hi,
I understand that to sway blue its recommended to take 2000mcg of Folic Acid. Im a bit nervous about taking that amount. My Welman pre conception supps contains (amongst other things) 400mcg of Folic Acid, so do I need to take another 4 tablets of 400mcg folic acid as well as my general supplement?

I have a tub of Folic Acid which are 400mcg and it does state on there to take 1 per day?

Im confused (doesnt take much!)

[3girlsandme]

Hey there, I'm in the same boat as you. Taking 5 pills a day is freaking me out a bit, but I have early miscarriage (Chemical preg) problems so I'm nervous anyway. I also have the 400mcg bottle.

[bunnywabbit]

Hi, I'm new here and am confused about this too...

[Huds]

Snap

[atomic sagebrush]

Not that you guys should ever just take my word blindly but I do investigate everything I advise and always have a good reason for anything I suggest.

Women who have a history of repeat miscarriages or neural tube defects are told to take as much as 4000 to 5000 mcg (you guys don't need that much tho). 2000 is believed to be safe in the short term and lots of women TTC taking that much or more.

The boy diet (the sodium and green tea in particular, and those who are doing BSD and COT and ASG drinks) makes you excrete folic. Additionally there are genetic conditions where people need a lot more folic acid (Google MTHFR) and people don't know they have them until they start having second trimester miscarriages.

400 is the barest, barest minimum to take for women of reproductive age. My son got spina bifida when I was taking 800. 400 is NOT ENOUGH. If you get pg with twins it is REALLY not enough. Folic acid had been proven to prevent heart defects, cleft palate, neural tube defects, and may help prevent Down's.

You are actually not using most of the folic you take in - you pee most of it out. Taking the small doses several times a day assures your body of having what it needs and then it just get rid of the rest. So as a preventative measure, since it doesn't hurt and may help, everyone should take the folic acid.

This is the same amount advised by IG BTW.

[Sihaya]

It might be easier if you can find a Folic Acid supplement with a higher dose, like 800mcg or 1000mcg/pill. That way it doesn't feel like you're taking so much. I took 5000mcg of Folic Acid every day while I was TTC my second son, then reduced to 3000mcg after I got pregnant, and didn't go off of it until the middle of the third trimester. There were no negative health effects for me or my son for taking so much Folic Acid.

Remember that the HE diet is actually reducing the amount of Folic Acid that your body is able to absorb and use. So even though you need to take 2000mcg, it isn't all being used by your body.

EDIT: Cross-posted with Atomic. What she said!

[mum2daisypie]

Thanks Atomic! Its great to find someone who really knows their stuff :-)

I feel much better and will certainly be taking the 2000mcg from now on (glad Ive got a good supply in!)

[3girlsandme]

thanks ladies! I actually have had 4 miscarriages, 1 was a set of twins (An ectopic that ruptured and a normal implant that was lost too), then another followed that. those were between my 2 oldest girls. i just had back to back early losses in nov/dec of last year, let myself have one full cycle and now we're trying again. so i am definitely going to take atomic's advice with the extra folic acid, especially because i'm doing the green tea and high sodium "boy diet"! <3

[bunnywabbit]

Can I just check, is it best to take the minimum amount for your sway (1200 in my case) in pill form, then make the rest up from diet? Not too sure how to tell how much folic acid is in food as it isn't readily labelled in the UK.

Thanks again for your help

[atomic sagebrush]

The benefit to taking smaller doses more often is that the body can only use a small amount and excretes the rest (in that lovely day-glo yellow pee we have all noticed after taking it.) So by taking small doses several times a day, you ensure you've always got a steady supply if your body needs some for formulating a tiny baby body.

It is A PITA trying to take the super high doses for those of us who have to take 4000-5000...when I was taking the 4000 mcg I did take the 800 mcg pills a couple times a day because I could not remember to take the smaller pills that often. If you're taking a smaller dose then no worries, use the smaller ones 3-4-5 times a day.

[atomic sagebrush]

Can I just check, is it best to take the minimum amount for your sway (1200 in my case) in pill form, then make the rest up from diet? Not too sure how to tell how much folic acid is in food as it isn't readily labelled in the UK.

Thanks again for your help

You'll be getting some via diet, but I do want everyone to stick to the pill dose because we don't know if everyone absorbs folic the same and if any of the supps interfere with the folic absorption (for blue we do know for a fact that green tea, sodium, and the baking soda drinks inhibit folic, but for pink we don't know if the pink supps do anything negative to folic or not) 1200 is fine for TTC pink BTW.

[bunnywabbit]

Sorry, one last question (I hope!) on this. Just gone to the website of a health food store here who stock the 800mcg pills. Folic Acid Tablets (800µg) | Vitamin B | Holland & Barrett (http://tinyurl.com/avn9ysd) They say one a day and not to exceed the dosage. It also says this on the Pregnacare 400mcg pills. Taking both of them in a day shouldn't cause any problems, no? Just wondering the reason why behind it, especially since I take other medication. If it's certainly not a problem and not overdosing on anything in the ingredients, that's great!

[atomic sagebrush]

400 taken 3x a day is better absorbed but that is fine

[atomic sagebrush]

the reason is explained in the thread

[zodiac]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have some questions about it...


When TTC Boy, we should be trying to take 2000mcg a day, but I read some things that mentioned higher doses could mean the possibility of twins/multiples.

If the main reason we should take 2000mcg is because the baking soda is depleting the folic acid, should we only take 2000mcg on days we are using baking soda products to reduce the risk of multiples?

[atomic sagebrush]

It's not just baking soda, it's also the green tea, whole grains, and increased protein intake. Some blue swayers are increasing sodium too and that also depletes folic acid.

I got a baby boy with a neural tube defect taking 800 mg a day and eating GREAT but drinking only one green tea a day. I just don't think it's worth the risk because 2000 mcg is believed to be safe. I strongly urge all blue swayers who drink green tea even only a few times a week to take the 2000.

We have not gotten any boy twins taking that dose. We have gotten quite a few twins with pink sways, but no boys that I am aware of. Studies concluded that higher dose folic/folate DOES NOT increase odds of twinning, but it helps both twins to stay "stuck" in case you do conceive them.

Summing up - I think to shortchange the folic out of a misguided fear of twinning that hasn't even happened is not in your best interests and hence though I do understand your concern, I still recommend the folic/folate. This is esp. true if you are drinking green tea.

[zodiac]

It's not just baking soda, it's also the green tea, whole grains, and increased protein intake.

Very informative!

I have been a little cautious with the Folic because of this even though trying to get familiar with the HE (boy) diet. So far it has been no more than 800 a day.

Although it seems to be very good, Green Tea is one of the things in all the food items I just cannot stomach. Makes me eeuuuuuggghhhhh :sad:


I am going to try instead Evening Primrose Oil and/or Robitusson to try and improve EWCM. I may also try the Baking Soda drink or Alka Seltzer Gold around Ov.

If those fail, then probably Pre-Seed when DTD!


If not drinking Green Tea at all, is the advice to take 2000 of Folic Acid still the same?

[atomic sagebrush]

It doesn't seem to hurt anything and may help. I have blue swayers take 2000 and pink swayers take 1200-1600. It is up to you if you want to take that much.

At some point as I'm sure you can understand it is literally impossible for me to go around and take everyone on a case by case basis and I have to "pick a dose and go with that" I believe 2000 mcg folic/folate to be safe at that dose for everyone, and enough to prevent issues even for those who are doing green tea, and thus I recommend it for blue sways.