What Is Methylated Folate (AKA 5-MTHF)?

Methylated folate (also known as 5-MTHF) is a type of folate. Remember, folate is an umbrella term for a form of vitamin B9, and 5-MTHF is under that umbrella. Unlike folic acid, methylated folate doesn't need conversion in the body which makes it a bioavailable form of the essential nutrient.

Why Is Methylated Folate Important?

Folate is an essential nutrient best known for supporting neural tube development during pregnancy. But for everyone else, folate is still a must-have. It’s involved in multiple processes, including DNA methylation. This is why we formulated our multivitamins, prenatal multivitamin, and postnatal multivitamin with an active form of folate called 5-MTHF.*

Is Methylated Folate the Same as Folic Acid?

TLDR: No! Form matters. Folic acid is the form used in many supplements because it’s highly stable. The caveat? Once folic acid enters a cell, it needs to be converted into 6S-5-Methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) by several key enzymes before your body can use it. And up to one-third of men and women have a genetic variation that can impact the last step of the conversion.* (1)

When formulating our multivitamins, Essential Prenatal Multivitamin and Essential Postnatal Multivitamin we decided to include a bioavailable form of folate: methylated folate (or MTHF). Unlike folic acid itself, it doesn’t need to go through enzyme conversion—which means that it's the form that can be utilized by those of us even with the MTHFR gene variant.*

Here’s What You Need to Know About Your Intake of Folate

Dietary sources of folate include citrus fruits, leafy green vegetables, yeast, and legumes, but these can easily be degraded during food prep and cooking; this means that those foods often become less nutritious sources of folate as soon as they’re manipulated, i.e. chopped or cooked. Taking that into account, finding a multivitamin with methylated folate is a great option to make sure you’re getting enough of this essential nutrient.*

The amount of folate you should aim for is, of course, dependent on your age. For teenagers (14-18 years old) and adults over 19, recommended folate levels are 400 mcg DFE. For pregnant women, it's recommended to hit 600 mcg DFE. Our Essential for Women 18+ and Prenatal Multivitamin both include 1000 mcg DFE. (2)

References:

1. Tsang BL, Devine OJ, Cordero AM, et al. Assessing the association between the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677>T polymorphism and blood folate concentrations: A systematic review and meta-analysis of trials and observational studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;101(6):1286-1294.

2. National Institutes of Health. “Office of Dietary Supplements - Folate.” Nih.gov, 1 Nov. 2022,