The Folate of Youth

Okay, so I'm 72 (a few months away from 73) and I do not feel like a teenager any more. As I've posted previously, my ability to walk has diminished greatly since I blew out both my Achilles tendons during my stay in Maui. My right hip needs to be replaced, and the less I move, the less able I am to move. What I needed was a Fountain of Youth. But, of course, there's no such thing. Or…is there?

Last weekend, I went with a buddy, Arthur, to the hot spring in Tonopah. When we were planning the trip, Arthur mentioned that he had discovered a supplement that had helped a lot with his depression over the death of his wife. If he'd been anyone else I might not have taken it too seriously; but Arthur went to medical school and isn't prone to fad cures. It's methyl folate, he explained. That's a form of a B vitamin that people need in that form, as we age. So I looked into it.

The B vitamins are a group of eight water-soluble vitamins that have different roles in the body. They are involved in various processes, such as energy production, cell growth, blood formation, and brain function. They are called B vitamins because they were originally discovered as factors that prevented certain diseases that turned out to be caused by vitamin deficiency, such as beriberi (B₁), pellagra (B₃), and pernicious anemia (B₁₂).

We need B vitamins because they are essential for our health and well-being. They help us convert the food we eat into energy, make new cells and DNA, support our immune system, regulate our hormones, and maintain our nervous systems. B vitamins are also important for preventing birth defects, protecting our heart and blood vessels, and reducing the risk of some cancers.

Folate is also known as vitamin B₉ . It is one of the eight B vitamins that have different roles in the body, such as making new cells, repairing DNA, and producing red blood cells. (Folate is especially important for pregnant women, as it can help prevent birth defects of the brain and spine in their babies.) Folate is found naturally in foods like leafy green vegetables, beans, peas, nuts, citrus fruits, and fortified cereals and grains. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate that is added to some foods and supplements.

Folic acid is the form that's in the Super B Vitamin supplement I've been taking for years.

Folic acid needs to be converted into its active form, methyl folate, by an enzyme called MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase). However, some people have a variant in the MTHFR gene that makes them convert folic acid into methyl folate more slowly than usual. This gene variant is more common in older adults, and it can lead to lower levels of methylfolate in the blood.

Low levels of methyl folate can have negative effects on one's health, such as increasing the risk of anemia, cardiovascular disease, depression, dementia, and some cancers. Therefore, as Arthur pointed out, it may be better to take methyl folate instead of folic acid, especially for those of us in our 70s or older. (Or younger; Arthur is 20 years my junior and he found he needed it.) Methyl folate is the form of folate that is already activated and can be used directly by the body. It does not need to be converted by the MTHFR enzyme, and therefore may be better absorbed and utilized by the body.

Some studies have also suggested that methyl folate may have additional benefits, such as enhancing the effects of antidepressants in some people with depression.

So people with the MTHFR gene variant may benefit from taking a different form of folate, such as methyl folate or folinic acid, which are the active forms of folate found naturally in foods. These forms of folate do not need to be converted by the MTHFR enzyme, and they may be better absorbed and utilized by the body.

Well, either Arthur is a good salesman or I was ready for the new information. In any case, I ordered some from Amazon and it arrived the next day. Arthur was taking 1.5mg a day. But I saw some with ten times that potency; and, as my grandmother always used to say, Some's good? More's better! So I bought the 15mg capsules. They arrived the next day, and I started them immediately.

It's now been exactly one week since I started the 15mg daily dose of methyl folate. And, OMG, I feel like a new man already. As in, this afternoon I actually felt up to going to the gym for the first time in nearly six months. I could only do 5 minutes on the eliptical today, but that's four-and-a-half minutes longer than I could manage the last time I went!

If I can keep up the exercise, it's entirely possible I might regain the ability to hike. I firmly believe that all the hiking I did in years past, is entirely the reason I'm not dead already.

I'll keep you all posted, of course; but if you want to try some of this magic on yourself, feel free. B vitamins are water-soluble, so you really can't overdose. Here's the link if you want to buy the same kind I got.

Meanwhile, bottoms up!