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Comment by tcj_phx | Hacker News Reader

> Maybe you all should stop eating so much folate so you do not get cancer in the first place: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000653

Your link is about folic acid supplements, NOT folate.

Folic acid is shelf-stable pro-vitamin that about 60-70% of the population is able to turn into Vitamin B9. The other 30-40% of the population are "poor methylators" who struggle with folic acid, or are harmed by folic acid.

Poor methylators are on a spectrum, from 'not very good methylators' to 'very poor methylators'. I don't really grok biochemistry, but I think more people should avoid folic acid, and aim to get their nutrients from food.

https://twitter.com/JamesKnochel/status/1595562181692907520

Edit: My understanding is that folic acid feeds the growth of inflammatory bacteria much more so than natural folate sources.

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> Your link is about folic acid supplements, NOT folate.

It does not matter and this show you know little about the folate cycle. DHFR, the enzyme that metabolizes Folic Acid, also bidirectionally converts DHF and THF (folates).

https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P00374/entry

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jack-Fletcher-3/publica...

> Folic acid is shelf-stable pro-vitamin that about 60-70% of the population is able to turn into Vitamin B9.

That would mean 60 to 70% of the population cannot process folate, not just folic acid. When did you even get this number?

> Poor methylators are on a spectrum, from 'not very good methylators' to 'very poor methylators'. I don't really grok biochemistry,

No, you do not grok at all well. You know who does? Me.

I am a lay person but:

* In the introduction of the linked BMJ article you can read:

"Folic acid is a synthetic form of the essential B vitamin folate, also named folacin, pteroylglutamic acid or vitamin B9. Folic acid is in the human body converted to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, which also is the form of folate found in dietary sources and is particularly abundant in vegetables, fruits and grains. "

* In Wikipedia "folic acid" is redirected to "folate".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folic_acid

In the "folate" WP page you find this sentence:

"Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and storage."

> but I think more people should avoid folic acid

And of course, there's people on the opposite end of the spectrum. For stroke survivors with certain kinds of vascular causes, folic acid supplementation is encouraged to reduce the risk of future strokes.

> My understanding is that folic acid feeds the growth of inflammatory bacteria much more so than natural folate sources.

That comment warrants justification. Web searches are hard to formulate to support that. In the general literature, [1] is fairly typical and benign, not supportive. Can you provide some references?

[1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327290

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