There are many forms of folate available. Dietary folate is the natural form found in food. Folic acid is closely related and is the form usually put into food and supplements because it is more chemically stable.
After folate is consumed orally the cells lining the intestine have to convert it to an absorbable form of folate called monoglutamate. Once folate is transported across the intestines into blood the liver converts folate into tetrahydrofolate (THF) using an enzyme called dihydrofolate reductase.
This step is the rate-limiting step for folate metabolism in the body. Consuming high amounts of supplemental folate or folic acid will result in elevated unmetabolized folic acid (UMFA) levels.
Taking methylfolate (5-methyltetrahydrofolate, 5-MTHF) allows the body to bypass the required conversion from folate to tetrahydrofolate.
However, there is one more step required for tetrahydrofolate to get into the brain, where it is essential for neurological processes. Tetrahydrofolate goes across the blood brain barrier by way of a transporter called folate receptor α (FR-α). The activity of that transporter is impaired in some individuals and supplementing with folinic acid helps supplement folate levels inside the brain.
Folinic Acid Dosing
For most people 1 drop per day is sufficient. 1 drop of DrFormulas Folinic Acid weighs 0.055 grams and has 500mcg of Folinic Acid.
Certain dosing guidelines call for 0.5-2mg/kg/day. To get 1 milligram of folinic from the dropper you would need 2 drops of our product.
We recommend working your way up slowly to high doses of folinic acid. High doses of even regular folate can cause nausea, loose stools, confusion, irritability, trouble sleeping (insomnia), and stomach cramps so it would not be surprising if high dose folinic acid would cause those symptoms as well.[i]
If your child weighs 10 kilograms that would be anywhere from 0.5-2mg/kg/day * 10kg or 5-20 mg/day which would be 10-40 drops for a 10kg child.
[i] https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-folate/art-20364625
