Could Reducing Folate as You Age Enhance Metabolism? Insights from Mouse Study

Reducing folate intake as you age may lead to a healthier metabolism and body weight—if you’re a mouse, at least.
The study’s authors concluded that “a lower folate intake later in life may result in healthier aging.”
“Leafy greens, number one … including romaine,” she told The Epoch Times. “People are like, ‘Oh, there’s no benefits to romaine’ because they’re trying to eat the dark leafy greens. But all lettuces are going to have folate. So even butter lettuce, the type we don’t usually want to eat very much, is going to have folate.”
Other sources of folate include beans, citrus fruit, asparagus, eggs, avocados, some nuts and seeds, organ meats like liver, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli. These foods contain folate in its natural form. The synthetic form—folic acid—is added to foods like cereal, bread, rice, pasta, and some types of flour.
Folic acid is considered the better form because naturally occurring folate is unstable and can be destroyed by cooking or processing.
Miller says that, although most people don’t need to think about MTHFR mutations, she has seen some patients who experience chronic symptoms like mental health issues, autoimmune reactions, and gastrointestinal disturbances. This may be due to the role folate plays in the brain, immune system, and gut.
MTHFR also plays a role in methylation reactions. According to Miller, poor methylation can increase oxidative stress, cause tissue damage and “trigger or exacerbate autoimmune conditions.” Inflammation resulting from impaired methylation can damage the gut lining and cause additional gastrointestinal issues.
“[Folate is] absorbed in the small intestine, and the folate has to have enzymes—several of them,” says Miller. “These enzymes have to be active, and the small intestine has to absorb it. So, as people get older, they don’t absorb as well.”
“There is no upper limit for folate intake from natural food sources,” Mohr said, “as there is no evidence of problems from consuming folate in its natural form.”
He advises “regularly eating fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds throughout the week” to maintain healthy folate levels, and Miller recommends also including four cups of raw leafy greens in your daily diet.
Despite the results of the Life Science Alliance study, human research doesn’t suggest benefits from a one-size-fits-all approach to folate intake. The authors note that differences in blood folate levels and DHFR activity between mice and people could mean that mice react differently to low-folate diets. More research is needed to determine how folate influences human health later in life.