SolgarFolate 1,333 mcg DFE, 100 Tablets - 800 mcg Bio-Active Metafolin - Heart Health - Non-GMO, Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Kosher - 100 Servings

If you're one of the 40 - 60% of people that have some form of defect in one or both of the genes responsible for methylation (MTHFR polymorphism) and you want to try and bypass that blockage to get your methylation system back up to speed, then Metafolin (aka: 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, 5-MTHF, levomefolic acid, or l-methylfolate) is a vital part of the protocol. This is the form ultimately used by the body. If you're an ineffective methylator, it's also the one that works, because your body doesn't have to convert it further to be useful. If you're of caucasian, hispanic, or Mediterranean descent, or have a high IQ, your odds are higher.This version (Metafolin) is the OTC strength (800 mcg) of the prescription Deplin (7.5 mg), but both are essentially the fully reduced (by methylation - what else) version of folate that the body actually uses...there are a number of enzyme mediated steps in converting folic acid and folates to the useable methylated form. It is also the only one that will cross the blood-brain barrier. Merck apparently figured out how to do the same thing and came up with a bioidentical form...and then patented their process for making it. I'm sure they knew about the distribution of the polymorphism and how big the market would be. I'm a business major, not a doctor. Props to Merck here, not slams.This is one of the few times that I think a pharmaceutical company may have gotten it right and should serve as a lesson to the others...vitamins and minerals in their most useable forms are curative medicines...curative...they cure diseases...not just treat them. Name one man made synthetic drug, not based on copying a biological compound, that has that claim. If they would do what Merck did here and just figure out what the body actually makes when it works right and synthesize that, then like this, they can have their patented cake and eat it too. And we all win...but I digress.This may be all you need. If so, great. If not, then look up the information on the Simplified Methylation Protocol, which is beyond the scope of this review, because you likely need to pick up some 'methyl' B12 and Tri'methyl'glycine or TMG to go with this. Also, be ready for some restart symptoms once you turn on your methylation systems...it seems that once the body can methylate it begins repairing tissues at a rapid rate. This dramatically increases the demand for potassium to supply the new cells and causes a rapid drop in serum potassium. It hit me around Day 3, figured it out on Day 4, some extra potassium resolved the symptoms in about 20 minutes. A lot of folks call it 'methylation detox', but try the potassium supplementation before you do...it seems to solve the 'achy business' right away. It did for me.Oh, and if you have or know anyone with Treatment Resistant Depression, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Lyme, Asperger's, Gluten Intolerance or Autism...tell them to look into this whole methylation thing...it looks like the research is finally starting to draw a bead on this and the methylation system seems to keep coming up suspect. If you start clicking like I did, you may wind up on the educating end of your next doc chat...this is just emerging from the research side into the main. Good luck. Justice means it's just us. Old cop joke...from an old cop.Update D+10: Sleeping MUCH better than I have in a long time...I always knew that sleep was at the center of the problem. This is a very positive development. Went for an easy jog this morning...because I wanted to...felt great...needed extra potassium afterwards (never used to), so the Metafolin must really be cranking things up. Cooking on the stove again after 3 years of zapping frozen dinners...interesting.I use high end video games (usually shooters or top shelf role players) to keep my reflexes, eye/hand coordination, decision making and judgment skills sharp (or as sharp as I can)...ultimately they are just high speed puzzles and problem solving exercises...and these are becoming easier. I probably couldn't compete with the average 15 year old, but those other 50-somethings had better look out!Update 06-08-12: Experimented with doses up to 15 mg/d and back down to one tab of this (800 mcg). All the doses seemed the same to me. Depressives may need to use more, in which case a script for Deplin via PamLab would be cheaper.Energy levels are improved but not the initial rush when everything seemed to jumpstart at once. I gained a couple pounds a month due to increased appetite until I added a lot of green tea which really helped both with mood, cognition, and weight. Don't let that keep you from using it if you need it...just add the green tea and be aware that your body craves nutrients to repair itself and it signals that via hungers. My hungers seemed to be for extra protein and brown rice (B vitamins). Now I add a whey protein shake and extra B's and the gobbler is back in his cage. Not sure if this is the reason, but a recent very comprehensive blood workup was straight down the middle perfect.Lastly, if you can't nail down what's got you feeling bad and you've chased every rabbit you can think of...and gotten a dozen different diagnoses (all usually favoring payment of the diagnoser)...then let me suggest one more rock to turn over...the one that I finally found an answer under after 30 years of looking: Get a sleep study done. Why am I adding this to a review about a special B vitamin? Because I know why 90% of you are here: You're like me looking for answers to why you don't feel as good as you know you should.Yep, I wrote and have said for decades that I knew sleep was at the center of it all along, and yet feel so stupid for not doing this before now, because I wasn't very sleepy during the day. I thought sleepiness was the gold standard diagnostic - it's useful, but there's a non sleepy variant that might even be worse. The endo who ordered the other blood work kept getting hits on sleep apnea with his other patients, so he ordered one on me...to my surprise and relief...and when all the tests came back negative, this one came back strongly positive..and it explains almost the entire picture. Sleep affects almost everything. Fortunately, the treatment is drug free and very effective..we'll see.Don't be like me and let your preconceived ideas of what an apnea victim looks like keep you from getting what in many cases is a free test. Mine costs a co-pay and a night in the hospital, but my insurance company advised that a (better) in-home test is free. Either way it goes you come out ahead. Knowledge is power.This is a long post and I thank you for getting this far and hope something in here helps you or someone you know.

The best folic acid on a market. I know for sure this product highly recommended by OBGYN from different countries.

This has a great new label that makes it very clear that 800 mcg really means you're getting 800 mcg because it says "1,333 MCG DFE". DFE stands for Dietary Folate Equivalents. So Solgar is telling us here that the tablets contain 1,333 mcg of Folate and 800 mcg of that is what we're actually getting. I was actually wondering about this recently. I thought maybe 800 mcg meant I was actually getting 500-600 mcg.I love these tablets too. I have always loved them. I actually chew them and they dissolve very quickly. They taste like a sugar tablet. All these reviewers saying they're having trouble swallowing these is EXACTLY why I chew them. I have a hard time swallowing them too because it's like trying to swallow a piece of chalk (it's dry and has no coating).I combine my dose of Folate with B12 Methylcobalamin (5000 mcg), and all I can say about that combination is WOW. It seems to be a magical combination. I see a lot of reviews on various B12 Methylcobalamin supplements saying that they don't get any of the benefits they expected from it, but I think it's because they are lacking Folate. When I was deficient in Folate, I wasn't benefiting from my B12 supplementation very much either. I mean, I was, but it was a very mild benefit. Then when I added Folate, it was like magic. Suddenly I was feeling MUCH better.Anyway, so yeah, Solgar's Folate is great and the price is always good. This new label makes it even better because now I no longer have to wonder if I'm actually getting 800 mcg from the tablet.

I recently found out I have been taking the wrong supplement for years. Folic Acid, as recommended to me by my doctor is actually not good for me, and can increase the chance of cancer. This one, Folate, is a more natural form and is absorbed better. I still find it strange Solgar will sell both Folic Acid and Folate, but that's another topic. I am hoping I don't read years later that Folate is also bad like Folic Acid. I also noticed this one is roughly 3x more expensive than regular Folic Acid if compared accurately including pill count.