Folate as 5-MTHF 1000mcg

Description

Folate as 5-MTHF 1000mcg, one small capsule a serving. The compound is L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate, the methylated form of the vitamin, and it is sold instead of folic acid because folic acid requires enzymatic conversion that a 5-MTHF 1000mcg capsule skips. Both are folate on a label. They are not the same molecule and they are not measured in the same way.

What is in the capsule

Micrograms and micrograms DFE are different numbers

On a 5-MTHF 1000mcg label the dietary folate equivalent matters, because the forms are absorbed differently and the conversion factors are not one to one. A label that prints only a raw microgram figure is leaving out the unit the regulation is written in. Ours prints both, which lets you compare a methylated capsule against a multivitamin against a fortified cereal without doing algebra.

The NIH folate fact sheet carries the conversion table, the reference intakes by age and the upper intake level, and it is the free source worth reading before buying any folate product at all.

Why a 5-mthf 1000mcg capsule exists

Folic acid is converted to the active form through several enzymatic steps, and common genetic variants in one of the enzymes involved reduce the efficiency of that conversion in a substantial share of the population. Research on those variants measured circulating folate forms and homocysteine concentrations rather than outcomes.

A separate line of published work measured unmetabolised folic acid appearing in blood after high synthetic doses, which is one reason the methylated form is sold. All of that describes what studies have measured. None of it is a claim about this bottle.

The upper level, and the number on this bottle

The tolerable upper intake level of 1,000 micrograms applies to synthetic folate from supplements and fortified food, not to folate from ordinary food. This capsule sits at that level, which is a deliberate choice rather than an accident, and it is the reason the amount is on the front of the label instead of inside a blend.

The B12 point, which matters more than the form

High folate intake can mask the haematological signs of a vitamin B12 deficiency while the neurological part continues, a well documented clinical interaction. Anyone taking a high dose folate on its own should know their B12 status rather than assume it, and the methylcobalamin on the vitamins page exists partly for that reason.

Who a 5-mthf 1000mcg capsule is bought by

Three groups, judging by what gets asked. People told they carry a reduced conversion variant who want the methylated form. People planning a pregnancy, who are generally pointed at a complete prenatal rather than a single nutrient, and those formulas sit on the women’s page. And people who react poorly to folic acid in a multivitamin and want to isolate the variable.

None of those is a reason to take 1,000 micrograms rather than 400 without knowing why. A 5-mthf 1000mcg capsule is a high dose single nutrient, and the sensible order is a blood test and a clinician before a bottle.

Form naming, as a house rule

Every vitamin here names its chemical form rather than a generic letter, because the forms differ in measurable ways. D2 against D3. Methylcobalamin against cyanocobalamin. Pyridoxal 5-phosphate against pyridoxine hydrochloride. Folic acid against 5-MTHF is the same kind of distinction and the most consequential one in this aisle.

Testing

Every lot of 5-MTHF 1000mcg is assayed for potency by a laboratory with no ownership tie to this company, with heavy metals, residual solvents and microbials screened alongside. The methylated form is less stable than folic acid, so an assay at the end of shelf life rather than at manufacture is the figure that matters. Under strength lots are withdrawn and the failing certificate stays published.