High-dose methylfolate can treat depression effectively at 15 mg, but requires sufficient B12 first or it may cause hyperactivity, especially in people with autism. Genetic variants in MTR, MTRR, and MTHFR increase folate needs and may require more choline or betaine.
What happens when someone takes an excessive amount of methylfolate? Methylfolate has been studied in pretty high doses. It depends on if you have take a lot of methylfolate and you don't have enough B12, you may get symptoms because you're kind of pulling from other pathways. So that's kind of the methylfolate steel type issues. And so some people don't do well when they get large amounts. But then there were studies done using 15 milligrams of methylfolate in people with depression and not only were there no side effects, it was very effective. In the autism world where you have to first address B12. If you have someone and you give them either folinic acid or methylfolate and they get hyper or they don't do well, I always say take it back and look at some of the other nutrients. But some of the genes that relate to spina bifida, for example, they're homocysteine and methylation related genes. Mtr, mtrr, mthfr, there's lots of M's and T's, so those people might need more and they also might do better decreasing the artificial folates in their diet, not using those processed cereals because again, you want to get it into the spinal cord. But some of the genes also require them to more choline or more betaine.
