If you're trying to conceive or are already pregnant, it's important to understand the importance of vitamin B9 (better known as folic acid). It plays multiple roles in the body: during the preconception period, it improves the quality of oocytes and is involved in cell growth and division. It's also key to embryo formation and fetal development during pregnancy. Basically, make it your best friend!
Important information: According to the results of the Esteban study , in France, nearly 75% of women of childbearing age have insufficient nutritional intake of vitamin B9. This is why it is strongly recommended that women wishing to conceive take vitamin B9 food supplements as soon as they want to become pregnant, or at least 1 month before conception, at a rate of 400ug per day.
This vital nutrient comes in the form of folate (the natural form found in food, which contains the 5-MTHF form) or folic acid (the synthetic form). But be careful, it's not six of one and half a dozen of the other: these two forms are not equal! In fact, the proper absorption of vitamin B9 depends on the form ingested.
We explain why and how to optimize the superpowers of your future mom's body!
The MTHFR gene mutation
Our bodies contain a gene called MTHFR (short for Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase), which produces the enzyme MTHFR, which plays a fundamental role in our bodies by influencing methylation. We can see you getting scared reading these scientific terms, but hang on, you'll understand everything! The methylation process simply helps our bodies process folate and folic acid and produce the most active form, called methylfolate, which has a beneficial effect on the latter.
However, a certain portion of the population carries a mutation in this enzyme, which reduces the body's ability to convert folic acid into a usable form. The extent of the alteration depends on the type of mutation observed: there are several variants of the MTHFR gene. Some annihilate the methylation process, while others reduce the production of components, such as phosphatidylcholine (better known as "lecithin"), necessary for the functioning of our cell membranes or the maintenance of a healthy liver.
If carriers of the MTHFR gene mutation supplement with folic acid (synthetic form), it will then accumulate on the vitamin B9 receptors, without them benefiting from its benefits. It will therefore be ineffective, or even dangerous because it could mask, for example, a vitamin B12 deficiency .
Generally speaking, and especially when you have a mutation of the MTHFR gene, it is therefore preferable to supplement with 5-MTHF (5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid ) , the already bioavailable form, which does not require methylation to be effective.
Are you pregnant and wondering what you can eat... or what you can't eat? Our article on foods prohibited during pregnancy will interest you!
The diagnosis
To find out if you are part of the population carrying the MTHFR gene mutation, simply discuss it with your doctor, who will prescribe a suitable analysis and a measurement of homocysteine in the blood.
If the result is positive: don't panic! Know that the diagnosis is common and while a genetic mutation cannot be modified, it is possible to act on its expression by modifying the signals sent to our cells.
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Best practices
Now that you know what vitamin B9 is used for , you can put in place some reflexes to better assimilate it, and increase your chances of conceiving if you are planning a baby.
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When supplementing, choose supplements that contain an absorbable form of vitamin B9. This is what we used in our Pregnancy Multivitamin !
- Eat a diet rich in naturally occurring folates (dark leafy green vegetables, avocados, lentils, beans).
- Don't forget the benefits of choline ! In some countries, it's prescribed to pregnant and breastfeeding women, just like vitamin B9, and for good reason! You can find it in eggs (mainly the yolk), meat (choose calf's liver), and fish (especially salmon), but also—spoiler alert: in our pregnancy vitamins!
- Where possible, a diet consisting of organically grown foods helps reduce your overall toxic load.
For more information on dietary supplements and nutrition during pregnancy, please consult our ebook "Pregnancy and Dietary Supplements" or write to us on Instagram if you have any questions.
