Folic acid is the man-made form of the important B vitamin folate, which is normally found in leafy greens, fruits and beans. Your body needs folate to make new cells, especially red blood cells. Folic acid supplements can be used to prevent birth defects, growth problems in folate-deficient children and one form of anemia in folate-deficient adults. High doses of folic acid can cause side effects and may pose health risks to certain people. Talk to your doctor before taking folic acid.
Side Effects
Folic acid is a water-soluble vitamin, which means your body doesn't store excess amounts, but instead flushes out what it doesn't need in your urine. This makes the risk of toxicity low, according to the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements, or ODS. But at high doses, folic acid can cause side effects including indigestion, mouth sores, skin lesions, itching, hives, rash, nausea, bloating, cramps, diarrhea, hair loss, irritability, excitability, vivid dreams, confusion, behavior changes and insomnia.
B-12 Interactions
High doses of folic acid, over 1000 micrograms per day, can hide and possibly worsen the damage done by a vitamin B-12 deficiency, according to the ODS. Folic acid can correct the anemia caused by a vitamin B-12 deficiency, which can cause fatigue and other symptoms. This is dangerous because it can cause people to delay seeking medical care until it's too late to prevent the nerve damage a vitamin B-12 deficiency can cause. Left untreated, vitamin B-12 deficiency can lead to numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, dementia, depression and balance problems, which can be permanent. Folic acid cannot prevent this nerve damage and it may actually worsen the cognitive symptoms of vitamin B-12 deficiency. One way to prevent this is to take folic acid supplements that also contain vitamin B-12, according to the American Cancer Society. If you are 50 or over, your risk of a vitamin B-12 deficiency is higher than when you were younger and you should consult your doctor before taking folic acid. He can test your vitamin B-12 levels to make sure you don't have a deficiency.
Precautions
If you have a seizure disorder or are taking anticonvulsant medications, do not take high doses of folic acid without consulting your doctor first, as it may increase your seizures. If you are taking the chemotherapy drug methotrexate, folic acid supplements may interfere with it. If you have had a coronary stent, talk to your doctor before taking folic acid, as taking folic acid with other B vitamins might increase the rate of complications.
Tolerable Upper Intake Level
To prevent the risks of high doses of folic acid, the Institute of Medicine recommends that healthy adults should not consume more than 1000 micrograms per day of folic acid. This does not apply to natural folate that you obtain from eating leafy greens and other folate-rich foods because there is no health risk to eating high doses of natural folate. Instead, this upper limit, called a Tolerable Upper Intake Level, applies both to supplements and any folic acid you consume in fortified foods like breakfast cereals. The limit varies with age. Children ages 3 and under should get no more than 300 micrograms per day, while children ages 4 to 8 should consume no more than 400 micrograms per day. Children ages 9 to 13 should get no more than 600 micrograms per day, while teenagers between 14 and 18 years old should consume no more than 800 micrograms per day.
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