Safety of folic acid
Ströhle, A.; Wolters, M.; Hahn, A.
Medizinische Monatsschrift für Pharmazeuten 38(8) 297-306; Quiz: 307-308
2015
ISSN/ISBN: 0342-9601 PMID: 26731845 Document Number: 684503
Improving dietary folate intake is a central public health goal. However, critical voices have become louder warning of too high intake of folic acid. Safety concerns of a high folic acid exposure are usually limited to synthetic folic acid contained in drugs and food supplements. Against this background, the present article focuses on two matters: (a) How do the absorption and metabolism of synthetic folic acid differ from that of other folates? (b) How has the longterm safety of folic acid to be judged, especially regarding the risk of colorectal cancer, autism, asthma, impaired immune defence, masking vitamin B12 deficiency and interactions with the methotrexate metabolism?