Is folate the same as folic acid?

Is folate the same as folic acid?

They're forms of the same vitamin, B9, but they aren't identical. Folate is the general name for the whole family, including the forms found naturally in food and in your body. Folic acid is the man-made form, as the NHS puts it, used in supplements and to fortify foods. The UK's Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals (EVM) uses the words this way, and notes that folic acid itself is barely present in food or in the body.

In practice:

• Food folate is fragile. Storage and cooking break it down, and because it dissolves in water, some ends up in the cooking water. The body keeps no long-term store of it either, the NHS notes, so you need folate-containing foods often.
• Folic acid is stable, which is why it's the form used for fortification and in most supplements. The EVM notes it is more readily absorbed than the folate in food.
• Your body converts folic acid before it uses it. Most of the folate circulating in your blood is 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, shortened to 5-MTHF or methylfolate, and some supplements now contain that form directly.

Is folic acid folate?

Yes. Folic acid is one form of folate, so a folic acid tablet is a folate supplement. The reverse isn't true: a product sold as "folate" may contain folic acid or methylfolate, so check the ingredients list to see which.

What is the difference between folate, folic acid and methylfolate?

Methylfolate vs folic acid: which is better?

Both raise folate levels, but only folic acid has been shown to prevent neural tube defects, so for pregnancy the answer is folic acid. On blood tests, methylfolate works well. In a 2006 German trial, 144 women aged 19 to 33 took 400 µg of folic acid, 416 µg of methylfolate, a lower dose of methylfolate or a placebo every day for 24 weeks, and red blood cell folate rose more on 416 µg of methylfolate than on folic acid.

Blood levels are a stand-in, though. Fewer babies born with spina bifida and other neural tube defects is the result that counts, and the trials that showed it used folic acid:

• The British Medical Research Council's Vitamin Study, published in 1991, gave 4 mg of folic acid a day to women who had already had an affected pregnancy, at 33 centres in seven countries. It found a 72% protective effect.
• A Hungarian trial published in 1992 gave women planning a pregnancy a multivitamin containing 0.8 mg of folic acid or a trace-element supplement. There were six neural tube defects in the trace-element group and none in the vitamin group.
• A 2015 Cochrane review of five trials involving 7,391 women concluded that folic acid, alone or with other vitamins and minerals, prevents neural tube defects.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says folic acid is the only type of folate shown to help prevent neural tube defects. Some researchers argue that methylfolate is a sensible alternative because it skips the conversion step and doesn't leave unconverted folic acid in the blood, which does appear at higher doses. When the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reviewed folate safety in 2023, it found the evidence insufficient to link folate intake to impaired thinking or to bowel or prostate cancer. It also didn't exempt methylfolate from its limit: the upper level of 1,000 µg a day for adults covers folic acid and the two permitted methylfolate salts combined.

What about MTHFR?

MTHFR is the gene for an enzyme in the folate pathway. EFSA notes that people with two copies of a common variant tend to have lower folate levels and higher needs, and that's the usual reason given for choosing methylfolate. The CDC's view is that people with an MTHFR variant can process all types of folate, including folic acid, and that how much folic acid you take matters more than your genotype in deciding your blood folate. It advises 400 mcg of folic acid a day for anyone who could become pregnant, with or without a variant. Our guide to methylated multivitamins covers the wider marketing around "methylated" products.

Is folic acid 400 mcg the right dose?

If you could get pregnant, yes: 400 mcg a day is the NHS dose. It's the same amount written three ways, 400 mcg, 400 µg or 0.4 mg. The NHS advises taking it every day while you're trying to get pregnant, ideally starting 3 months before, and for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. If you find out you're pregnant and haven't been taking it, start as soon as you know.

Some women need a higher dose of 5 mg, which is more than 12 times as much and is prescribed by a GP. The NHS says this applies if:

• you or the baby's father has a neural tube defect, or a relative with one
• you've had a previous pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect
• you have diabetes
• you have a blood condition such as sickle cell anaemia or thalassaemia
• you take medicine for epilepsy or HIV

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) also lists living with obesity. Don't choose a 5 mg dose for yourself. The EVM found that around 5 mg a day of folic acid reverses the blood signs of B12 deficiency in at least half of people who have it, which can let nerve damage carry on unnoticed, so a GP decides and checks first.

Outside pregnancy, adults need 200 µg of folate a day. The NHS says 1 mg or less a day of folic acid from supplements is unlikely to cause harm, and that doses above 1 mg can mask the symptoms of B12 deficiency. Our folic acid guide covers side effects, timing and taking it with other supplements.

Why is folic acid being added to flour?

To cut the number of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects, including in women who aren't taking a supplement. From 13 December 2026, UK flour mills must add 0.25 mg (250 µg) of folic acid to every 100 g of non-wholemeal wheat flour. Wholemeal flour and flour from small mills are exempt. When it consulted on the plan, the government estimated it would prevent around 200 neural tube defects a year, about 20% of the UK total.

The government kept the level modest on purpose, turning down calls for a higher one partly so that fewer people would go over the 1 mg a day guidance level. The UK's chief medical officers say fortification supports the supplement advice rather than replacing it: 400 µg a day before conception and until 12 weeks still applies.

Which foods are high in folate?

Green vegetables, pulses and liver are the richest everyday sources. The NHS lists broccoli, Brussels sprouts, leafy greens such as cabbage, kale and spinach, peas, chickpeas, kidney beans, liver and fortified breakfast cereals. Here are some figures per 100 g from the UK's official food composition data, McCance and Widdowson's CoFID:

• green or brown lentils, boiled: 152 µg
• baby spinach, boiled: 135 µg
• Brussels sprouts, boiled: 124 µg
• broccoli: 95 µg raw, 72 µg steamed, 34 µg boiled
• frozen peas: 60 µg microwaved, 31 µg boiled
• lamb's liver, fried: 207 µg

The broccoli and peas show what boiling costs you, so steaming or microwaving greens keeps more folate. Liver is rich in folate, but the NHS advises avoiding liver and liver products in pregnancy because their high vitamin A content can harm the baby. The NHS also says it's difficult to get the amount of folate you need in pregnancy from food alone, which is why the advice is a supplement.

Where Natura fits

Daily Folate, in the Natura cabinet (coming soon), is one tablet of 400 µg folate as L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate, which is methylfolate, not folic acid. Folate contributes to normal blood formation and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Because it isn't folic acid, it isn't the form behind the NHS pregnancy advice: if you could get pregnant, take folic acid as the NHS advises, and ask a pharmacist or GP if you're unsure. Daily Multi also contains 400 µg of methylfolate, so taking it with Daily Folate or the B Pack comes to 800 µg a day, under EFSA's 1,000 µg limit; they're with the daily bottles and The Fifty packs.