Vintage Geisha II │ Vitamin B9 ─ Are Folate and Folic Acid of Equal Benefit?

My evening is already upon me, and as a consequence this post will be quite brief. I had spent much of my afternoon finalizing a lengthy post ─ over 29,500 words ─ at my website Amatsu Okiya.

That post is now published, if you are at all curious: Vintage Geisha Ⅱ.

I had put in some work on that post in the wee hours of the a.m. after getting to bed by 9:30 p.m. last evening.

I slept poorly ─ as well, my wife was home before I managed sleep. She did not deliberately disturb me as I lay in bed with my blindfold and earplugs, but she bustled about with sufficient gusto that I had any of my descent towards sleep well disrupted.

I suppose that it was around 2:30 a.m. or even 3:00 a.m. when I rose to get to work on that website post. I broke shortly after 4:00 a.m. to essay a plank ─ but I only had it in me to hold out for nine minutes.

Yesterday I managed 10½ minutes. However, that is still considerably far from my record of 12 minutes that have been achieved a few times in the past score of days.

Anyway, it was nearing 6:00 a.m. by the time I returned to bed.

Google Photos evidently created a collage today from some photos I took exactly five years ago at a party of some description that was hosted by my maternal cousin Wendy and her husband Barry at their property out near Chilliwack.

The weather has been such so far this October that I can scarcely believe that any such event was possible back then, for most of it was held outdoors ─ such would not have been too likely today.

Here is the Google Photos' collage:

And here are the original photos from 2014, beginning with the left column.

The bearded chap in the first photo is Brady, a maternal first cousin once removed ─ that is his younger brother Shane at the photo's left border:

The next photo features my maternal first cousin Tim at the photo's left border speaking with his niece Sherry ─ I don't know the name of the fellow in the cap who is looking at them:

The top photo in the second column again features Brady ─ his back this time. The two women in front of him are hostess Wendy at the left (Brady's aunt); and my eldest maternal half-sister Phyllis:

Finally, the last photo again features Brady barely recognizable at the photo's left border. His father Randy is the nearest person seated. The man seated just beyond Randy is Earl, Randy's stepfather:

It seems too long since I have enjoyed a good party! In fact, I have not attended one in over two years. The only people I drink with live here in this house, and sometimes my younger brother's girlfriend Bev when he brings her over.

I truly do live a socially isolated existence.

Okay, the third and last topic I have for this post concerns an interesting article I read this morning concerning vitamin B9, or folate.

Mercola.com

Health Benefits of Folate for Children, Athletes and Seniors

I have been aware for some years now that it is a good idea to supplement with vitamin B9. However, I have always done so with folic acid.

Well, although the article makes the following fairly comforting point at its beginning, the article later issues some contrasting alarming information:

• Folic acid is the synthetic form typically found in supplements. Folic acid is not biologically active in and of itself, but provided your liver is healthy, it will convert folic acid into the active form

Deep into the article, this is said:

As mentioned, folate is naturally found in foods as a tetrahydrofolate derivative that enters the metabolic cycle and is metabolized in the mucosa of your small intestine.

Folic acid is an oxidized synthetic compound manufactured for dietary supplements and food fortification. It is initially metabolized in your liver and then enzymatically converted into its active tetrahydrofolate form.

However, if you have low activity of the required enzyme in your liver (which many do due to genetic reasons), it can result in unnaturally high levels of unmetabolized folic acid in your circulation. This increased level has been associated with an increased prevalence of colon cancer and an increased risk of prostate cancer.

Being naturally-occurring, folate also contains all of the related isomers your body needs for optimal use. For all of these reasons, I recommend getting most of your folate from folate-rich foods rather than supplements. If you need a supplement, consider using folate products that list 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) on the label, not folic acid.

I have omitted a number of footnote indicators ─ refer to the actual article to find those.

I never heard anything of the sort before ─ that is, that unmetabolized folic acid may well increase in risk both colon cancer and prostate cancer!

I am a week away from having my 70th birthday, so my age no doubt puts me at an even greater risk. 

As a pensioner with far too little income, I want to use up the folic acid that I have in supply before I purchase and start using 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) supplements.

However, I just took a gander at my supplement supply, and I found that I am early into a bottle of 365 1-mg tablets containing of folic acid.

I had no idea that the bottle of folic acid held so many tablets! But that's not the worst news.

What is worse is that I have another bloody three bottles in my stock!

What have I done to myself? 

At this rate ─ one tablet a day ─ it will probably be the Summer of 2023 before I have exhausted my supply of folic acid.

My only alternative is to at some point toss the folic acid that I have...but my limited financial situation and crushing debt burden decries any such extravagance.

It sure sucks being unable to "live abundantly."

Well, my younger brother has just gotten home. I must stop for today.