Folic Acid vs Methylfolate: Which Should You Take to Clear HPV and Abnormal Cells?

If you're testing positive for high-risk HPV virus and potentially abnormal cells, you might be wondering whether you should be taking folic acid or methylfolate. Hi, if you're new to my page or channel, I'm Dr. Doni Wilson. I'm a naturopathic doctor and midwife, and I have a clinic where I specialize in helping women to reverse abnormal cells and clear high-risk HPV to negative. So this is a really important question, and I want to take time time in this video to help you understand the difference between folic acid and folate and understand whether you should be taking it, and if so, how much. So let's start with understanding folic acid versus folate. Folic acid is the synthetic form of vitamin B9, and methylfolate is the active form of vitamin B9. So they are both essentially vitamin B9 However, folic acid is a synthetic form which is often used in foods like processed foods, as well as in many lower quality supplements such as multivitamins, prenatal vitamins, as well as B complexes. So I encourage you to take out your supplements, turn them around, look on the back label, and look and see what type of B9 is in your supplement. Is it folic acid which is the inactive form, or methylfolate, or otherwise known as folate for short, which is the active form. So essentially what that means is that our— inside of our bodies, once you swallow the vitamin, the— our bodies have to convert the folic acid into methylfolate, which is the form that your cells in your body can use. Now, majority of people can convert it. However, it's important to understand that at least 40% of us have at least one gene variation called MTHFR, which is a gene variation which affects our ability to convert folic acid into folate. So if you are one of those people who has one or more variations on the MTHFR gene, then that might mean that you're not as able to convert folic acid into folate. And so if you're swallowing folic acid, you might not actually be getting all of the benefits from it. And simply by switching to a high-quality multivitamin B vitamin, then, that contains methylfolate, or what might be referred to on the label as 5-MTHF, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, then you will be swallowing the active form and your body will not have to activate it and you will no longer be relying on that gene to create the enzyme to create that conversion. So a lot of times people will get a bit confused about MTHFR gene because they're thinking that, that means that if they have that gene variation that they're always going to have an issue even with folate. But what I want to help you understand is when you take methylfolate, it's like a detour around that whole thing. You've just skipped that process. So by taking methylfolate, you've essentially diverted around that gene variation and no longer is it an issue for you. And now you're actually getting the nutrient that you need. The thing is, is that most practitioners have not been trained in understanding clinical nutrition. Let alone gene variations. It just so happens that I have been trained, and these are specialties of mine, and I've been in practice for over 26 years, and I specialize in not only HPV and abnormal pap smears and women's health. I also specialize in MTHFR and gene variations as well as methylation issues. So this is a topic that I've covered a lot on my website. So if you want to learn more, I'll put links down below so you can even take more classes from me to understand methylfolate and MTHFR. What I want to help you understand in this video is why it's so important to consider adding or taking methylfolate if you have an abnormal Pap smear. So the thing is, is the reason is that methylfolate actually has many actions in our bodies. It does many things. It's used in many ways. One of the most important things it does related to HPV and abnormal cells is that Folate is essential for something called DNA methylation, which means when the body uses folate as well as other B vitamins to protect our DNA, which is essential for making healthy cells. As soon as our DNA is damaged by HPV, for example, and oxidative stress, that's when the cells become unhealthy or abnormal and potentially cancer cells. So if we want to be preventing abnormal cells and cancer cells specifically on your cervix, let alone anywhere else in your body, then we want to make sure you have adequate amounts of methylfolate. But methylfolate doesn't work alone. As I just mentioned, methylfolate works in methylation, and methylation is what I refer to as the B vitamin cycle. It involves all the B vitamins from B1 to B12. So we don't just take methylfolate by itself. We need to make sure methylfolate is with all of the other B vitamins so they can work together to create healthy methylation for your cells, for producing healthy cells. However, methylation is also used for helping with detoxification. And so it's important to have enough methylfolate as well as the other B vitamins to help you detoxify in your liver on a regular basis, including to detoxify estrogens. That's right, estrogen, which is many ways our friend and necessary, has to go through the liver and be detoxified. And to be detoxified, it requires B vitamins, including methylfolate. So if you don't have enough methylfolate, you might not be detoxifying your estrogen well, and that might be actually increasing your risk of HPV. As well. Methylfolate is also used for making neurotransmitters and breaking down neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the essential messengers in our nervous system that affect our mood, energy, sleep, and focus. So if we aren't making enough neurotransmitters or we're not breaking them down effectively, then we might not be feeling well. We might be more likely to feel anxious or not sleep well and feel tired or low mood. and these factors can actually increase your risk of HPV as well. So it might not just be about the cells, it can actually be these other factors as well, including detoxification and healthy neurotransmitters, which relates to having a healthy stress response, because one of our most important neurotransmitters is adrenaline, and adrenaline helps us respond to stress, but we also don't want a too high of adrenaline. We need to be metabolizing it with folate and methylation so that adrenaline isn't on high stress alert constantly. Okay, so this is all to just help you understand why the B vitamins are so important, especially folate. In fact, there's quite a lot of research. First, originally the research was on folic acid. This is before we understood the difference and before they started researching methylfolate. They did a lot of research on folic acid, and that also showed that it can help prevent dysplasia, which is abnormal cells caused by HPV, and cervical cancer. Now, there is also a lot of research that shows folic acid, or vitamin B9, helps prevent neural tube defects during pregnancy, helps prevent miscarriages, and many other things. Now we know, since the Human Genome Project was released and we learned about gene variations, we understood how important it is to get methylfolate Now we know that it's actually methylfolate that's doing all that protection during pregnancy and also when it comes to preventing HPV and cervical cancer. So this is why it's so important to consider. Now, it's one thing to say, okay, everybody needs some methylfolate, and you could certainly just start at least by making sure that your multivitamin contains methylfolate, usually between 400 and 600 or 800 micrograms in, in a multivitamin, daily dose of a multivitamin. That to me is a minimum, and I definitely recommend starting with a high-quality multivitamin containing methylfolate if you're not already taking one. And I'll put links down below so you can see an example and the actual multivitamin that I recommend to my patients. and then you could consider adding additional methylfolate. This would be a clinical dose of methylfolate because of its research showing that it can be beneficial for preventing dysplasia or abnormal cells and reversing abnormal cells. And that dose is usually between 1 milligram— that's 1,000 micrograms— 1 milligram and 10 milligrams or 10,000 micrograms. This is not a dose that everyone needs to take. However, depending on the severity of your case and depending on— what I would do is look at your blood results, then we determine what is the correct dose of methylfolate for you to take between 1 and 10 milligrams per day until the abnormal cells go away, and then we decrease the dose because you no longer need that clinical dose at that point, to a maintenance dose. So what is the testing, you've been one— maybe wondering. Now, in regular blood work at a regular lab, you can ask to test folate levels. However, I really warn you because actually I don't test folate levels because the test is not actually showing you what you think it might be showing you. Even though the test says folate, Remember, folic acid and methylfolate are both vitamin B9. So when they, when they test for this nutrient in the blood, they're actually testing for all the forms, not just the methylfolate form. So when you get a blood test for folate, you're not just measuring methylfolate, you're measuring any forms of folate, which include folic acid in the inactive form, which is not really the information we need. And if you're already taking a multivitamin, let's say, containing methylfolate, then your blood test is likely to show that you have enough or more than enough folate, which is not the right information. So even if your practitioner orders a folate test and even if it shows greater than 20 or that you may have adequate amounts of folate, I'm not going to stop there because that's not enough information for me as a clinical nutritionist. What I need to know is your homocysteine level, and that can be done in regular blood work at a regular lab, even covered by your insurance. You just need to ask your practitioner who's ordering your blood work to, to do a homocysteine test. H-O-M-O-C-Y-S-T-E-I-N-E. Homocysteine is a metabolite in the methylation cycle. Remember the B vitamin cycle I was mentioning? So when we measure homocysteine in the blood, It gives us a sense of how well is your body using the B vitamins for all the good stuff that the B vitamins do. We want the homocysteine to be at about a 7. Between 6 and 8 would be great. If it's above 9 or 10, that indicates low methylation. If it's less than 5 or 6, then that indicates hypermethylation. So it's an opposite, right? The higher number actually means you might need more methylfolate. But it's not just about the methylfolate, remember, it's about the other B vitamins too. So sometimes if methyl— if the homocysteine shows higher than 10, let's say, that could mean many different things. It could mean that you may benefit from additional methylfolate. That's possible, definitely possible and likely. However, it also could mean that you may need also additional B2, B6, B12, and maybe the other B vitamins. It also might mean that you have high level of inflammation in your body, because what happens is when we have a lot of inflammation in our body, it slows down our body's ability to use the B vitamins. So you could be swallowing plenty of B vitamins, but if you have high inflammation, if you have high levels of stress, or if you have high levels of toxins in your body, your body's not going to be able to use the B vitamins. It's going to get stuck. It's going to be a traffic jam. So it's always important if your homocysteine is elevated to consider all of the possibilities and don't just assume that you need more methylfolate. It might be that we first— and this is what I recommend— is to first start decreasing your inflammation, start addressing any toxins in your body. Maybe we need to get your bowels moving and figure out if there's some toxins from your gut happening. And we need to make sure if you have enough of the other B vitamins and other cofactors for that matter. You see, methylation also requires healthy amounts of magnesium and electrolytes and several other nutrients. So we need to make sure— we can't just pour in a whole lot of folate because we might just be spinning our wheels. We need to make sure your body has everything it needs to use the methylfolate. So we need to make sure there's nothing blocking it like inflammation and stress and toxins, and we need to make sure it has everything it needs to use the methylfolate, like all the other B vitamins and electrolytes and magnesium. Does that make sense? So it's never just about taking methylfolate, it's always about helping your body use methylfolate more effectively. So this is why we don't just give methylfolate alone, we would give methylfolate along with a high-quality multivitamin that has all the other B vitamins in there and minerals and, and then some magnesium. And we would then use the methylfolate alongside a diet that helps you drop inflammation and heal your gut, as well as a protocol that helps you recover from stress, optimize your cortisol and adrenaline levels, and detoxify. So this way, when you take the methylfolate, your body can actually use it for all the good, including protecting you from high-risk HPV. Ladies, high-risk HPV virus doesn't have to control your life. I'm Dr. Doni Wilson, and I've been at the forefront of women's health for over 20 years. I've helped thousands of women to clear HPV naturally with my proven protocol. And this isn't about just managing the virus. It's about eliminating it for good. Join my workshop and take control of your health and your body with an expert guide by your side. Click the button. Now, some of you might be saying to me, well, I really wish I could take methylfolate. I tried taking methylfolate and I felt worse. And this is a really important consideration. I was one of those people for many years when I first tried taking methylfolate. I felt worse. And so I couldn't take it for many years. I had to figure it out. I had to solve the puzzle because any of the practitioners I was seeing at that time when I was way back in medical school, nobody could figure it out. So it took me years. That's one of the reasons why I was motivated to learn all of this, was to figure out the mystery of why I couldn't take methylfolate. So if you have trouble taking it and you feel worse or you feel anxious, you get a headache and you're like, every time I try to take methylfolate, something feels worse. And so I stop. Please know that you're not alone. That's not a common reaction, but it can happen. And when it happens, it indicates that your body's not able to use the folate effectively, right? It's the same thing where we're— I use often an analogy of a sink. If your sink, the drain is clogged, right? So the drain might be clogged with inflammation, stress, and toxins. If the inflammation If the drain is clogged and you turn on the faucet, which is equivalent to taking extra folate, then what's gonna happen? You're gonna turn on the faucet, the sink's gonna fill with water, but it's not gonna go down the drain, and so it can overflow. And if the sink is overflowing, that's gonna be making you feel anxious or get headaches or sometimes a rash or feeling jittery or just not feeling like yourself. And you're like, I can't take this, this makes me feel worse. Well, it's a big— we can't just stop and give up. Up, because then you're not getting the benefit. You're— it's showing you that your methylation needs attention, and now's the time to pay attention, because if HPV is present, it's going to take advantage of methylation that's not working optimally. So we need to do something about it. Don't just give up. Don't just set aside the folate and decide you can't take it. Let's figure this out, right? This is a puzzle we can solve. And so we can start asking questions. We can start, first of all, to measure your homocysteine as well as your methylmalonic acid, which is another metabolite that tells us about your B12 levels. And then we can also look for other nutrient levels. We need to look for food sensitivities which cause inflammation. We need to look for imbalanced gut bacteria that create toxins that block these pathways. We need to look for other toxin exposure. Such as mold toxins and other environmental toxins and address them effectively. And we need to measure your other nutrient levels and neurotransmitter levels for that matter, and stress hormone levels like cortisol, adrenaline, serotonin, dopamine, which can be measured in urine saliva testing so we can understand how stress is affecting your body. Got— and I can guide you through my stress recovery protocol to help you re-optimize your cortisol, your neurotransmitters, your adrenaline. And so now you've recovered from stress. We've healed your gut. We've dropped your inflammation. We've helped you detoxify. Now, we're going to have a much better chance of you being able to benefit, take folate and benefit from it. But we're still going to start at a very low dose. So if you're reacting to folate and you started at 5 milligrams, then I recommend cleaning everything up, get your body working better so that your body can actually use the folate, and then start at a low dose. Maybe we start with 400 micrograms or 800 micrograms, and then 1 milligram, and then we get— maybe go to 2 milligrams, and we work our way up little by little, listening to your body. And if your body says that's enough, then we back off. I will use magnesium to help your body metabolize, and we address Even sometimes there's other types of reactions we have to address, like histamine and sulfur. But this— sometimes those are all things that need attention. As we address them, your body will start metabolizing better again. Your methylation will start working again. You start detoxifying again, and your body actually starts being able to protect you from HPV and even clear the HPV. And then you won't even need so much folate anymore because your body is going to be able to easily use what you get from your diet and, and keep up with your level of stress exposure. So that's the goal, right? We want to be able to help our bodies metabolize the toxins, clear out the inflammation, and rebalance from stress on a daily basis so that we know— never become susceptible to HPV, let alone other infections that we might be exposed to in our day-to-day life. So I'm hoping this helps you understand a little bit more about what's going on behind the scenes when it comes to methylation and methylfolate and why I feel is so important. Now, some people might ask me, is— does everybody need to be tested for an MTHFR gene variation? And I would say, I don't think so. I don't think so. If you're interested, if you wonder if you have an MTHFR gene variation, then yes, it's worth getting tested just for your information. I want you to know though that it doesn't just stop there. When we— when I test patients for MTHFR, I don't just check them for MTHFR. I'm going to want to check them for all the gene variations that are related to MTHFR. So when you— you're kind of opening up this whole area of health, where you're understanding your gene variations, you want to be working with a practitioner who can help guide you based on that information. And this is again something that I have been extensively trained in and, and work with patients exclusively related to gene variations in my practice all the time. So if you're wanting more help with that and you're wondering if this has to do with HPV and other health issues, then I welcome you to reach out to my office and we can help guide you to get the best gene variation test, help you to understand what your results are and what to do about them so you can actually use your genetic information to help you prevent future health issues. So that is something that you can contact my office, and we— and I work with patients one-on-one in person or by Zoom to help them optimize their health based on their gene variations. However, if it is that you're mainly focused on trying to clear HPV You— if you're interested in your gene variation, yes, you can definitely do it. You can do a blood test for MTHFR gene variation, but honestly, I don't recommend doing the gene— the blood test because, first of all, sometimes insurance doesn't cover it and then it might be several hundred dollars, and you're only getting that MTHFR gene information, whereas if you're going to spend several hundred dollars, you might as well do a full genetic panel and get not just MTHFR but a bunch of other gene variations that we need to know at the same time. So instead of just doing a blood test for MTHFR, I would go down the path of saying, "Hey, if we really want to know this information, let's do a gene panel that's going to give us the right information with a practitioner who can help you understand it and address it." However, it's not always necessary. Because what I find is that even if you don't have an MTHFR gene variation, methylfolate is going to be beneficial. So that means that while folic acid is only beneficial for a certain percentage of people, methylfolate is beneficial for everyone. So we might as well, if we don't know whether you have an MTHFR gene variation, we might as well just have you take methylfolate because it's not harmful if you don't have that gene variation. Does that make sense? So everyone can benefit from methylfolate. So we might as well use methylfolate instead of folic acid. It's— then we don't have to rely on any kind of conversion. We already have the active nutrient. And the best test to know the right dose and how well your body's using it is a blood test for homocysteine, which is most often covered by insurance and so worth it because then you can see, okay, based on my current dose of methylfolate, is my homocysteine at about a 7? If so, then likely my body's using it effectively and I'm benefiting from it. And you could potentially even then raise your dose of methylfolate. And oftentimes then your homocysteine will still say about a 7 because your body's just using the increased amount to help your body heal from HPV. And then once the HPV is gone, we can reduce the dose to a maintenance dose based on your homocysteine levels. Okay, so I do recommend for everyone to be tested in the blood for homocysteine to help us identify your methylation activity and your best dose of methylfolate now and into the future. And I don't recommend folic acid for anyone because if there's folic acid in a supplement, it really indicates to me that that supplement is much lower quality because folic acid is much cheaper for supplement companies to use. So if they're using folic acid, it tells me they're probably cutting corners in other ways too and trying to make a lower-cost supplement. And I would rather take a supplement that's going to have high-quality ingredients so you can get the most benefit from it, and from a company that's not just trying to cut corners but trying to get you the best quality supplement for your health. So that's why I don't recommend folic acid for anyone, even if you don't have an MTHFR gene variation. And that's why I do recommend methylfolate for most all women who are dealing with HPV, unless You're having a sensitivity, in which case we need to dig deeper and figure out why is your body being sensitive and reactive to folate, because we don't want to overlook an underlying issue, because likely the same reason you're not able to take methylfolate ties in with why your body hasn't been able to clear HPV. And if we can solve that, we'll probably solve both things at the same time. We'll probably optimize your methylation and clear HPV all in one fell swoop, and then help you to maintain optimal health into the future. So if you would like to learn more of exactly which methylfolate product that I recommend for my patients to use when I'm helping them to heal from HPV and abnormal pap smears, then just check out the link down below and you're gonna find it, and you're gonna be able to go into my website to access that clinical dose of methylfolate from a high-quality supplement company and just then know that it's important to work with a practitioner who's monitoring your homocysteine and helping you to have a full comprehensive supplement protocol. It's not just about the methylfolate itself, right? We need a healthy diet, sleep, exercise, stress recovery, as well as other nutrients and herbs to help your body orally and vaginally optimize your microbiome. So folate is part of a comprehensive protocol. We call it the Dr. Doni's HPV Protocol, and this is a protocol that I now train practitioners. So if you're interested as a practitioner to learn my full protocol, then just find that link down below to the certification program. And if you are wanting my guidance, you can find a link down below to schedule an appointment with me one-on-one or to work with me in one of my group programs where you can access the Dr. Doni's HPV Protocol online from wherever you are in the world, either on your own through videos or in a group program where we have live sessions and a live group of women all working together to heal from HPV, which is quite amazing and wonderful and beautiful to see them supporting each other and learning together all about things like methylation and methylfolate and how to choose the right supplements and how to help their bodies heal. So if that sounds like something you've been looking for, then I welcome you to join us in the Say Goodbye to HPV program. Thanks so much for joining me for this video, and if you are new and you haven't already subscribed, I welcome you subscribe so you don't miss my next video. Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you soon. Thanks for listening to How Humans Heal. If you liked this episode, leave a rating and a review, and for more resources, visit drdoni.com.