FOLATE Rich Low Carb Foods (Folic Acid) 2026 ~ Dr. Ken Berry

There are a number of symptoms of having low levels of folate in your blood.

They include fatigue, gray hair, mouth sores, tongue swelling, growth problems, uh, persistent fatigue or weakness, lethargy, pale skin, shortness of breath, and even irritability.

There's a worrisome list of health problems that can result with chronically low levels of folate in your blood.

Uh, they include birth defects, which you've probably heard of, uh, in news stories in years past.

Also, fertility.

Th- the formation of sperm in males and eggs in females, uh, both require a good source of folate, and so decreased fertility in men and women can result from low folate levels.

An increased level of heart disease has been shown in some studies, an increased incidence of stroke has been shown in some studies, an increased incidence of cancer has been shown in some studies from low folate levels, and also several neurological disorders are intimately related with chronically low levels of folate.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm referring to this as folate instead of folic acid, and there's a, uh, a very important reason for that.

Folate is a group of water-soluble vitamins known as the B9 vitamins.

Folic acid is b- B9 like, but it's, uh, it's actually a step removed from being actual folate.

All the folate that you'll find in foods is actually folate, and so your body can absorb it immediately through the mucosa of your small intestine.

If you are getting your folate in the form of folic acid, then it actually has to be transported to the liver, where an enzyme has to act on it and convert it into folate.

Now, why this is so important is that many people in the world, uh, have a deficiency of this enzyme, or the enzyme doesn't work very efficiently, and so even though they're getting lots of folic acid in their diet, they're not getting enough folate, which is the usable form of the B9 vitamins.

Many people around the world think that they're getting adequate supplies of folate because they eat lots of folic acid fortified foods, including bread, cereals, rice, and pasta.

And indeed, if you look up the folate content of these things, it'll, i- it'll show a really high number, and so you think, "Well, there you go, I'm getting plenty of folate." But refer back to what I talked about previously.

You may not be getting enough of the usable folate if all you're getting is folic acid from a supplement or from a folic acid fortified food.

Here's a National Institutes of Health, uh, chart that shows how much folate you should be getting based on your age and whether you are pregnant or lactating or breastfeeding.

If, uh, if you don't find yourself before this chart disappears, you can go back and watch this part again and pause the video and figure out how much folate you should be getting each day.