How much folic acid is too much?

I take a prenatal vitamin with 800mcg, and I have a supplement of 200mcg. I also take extra calcium with the prenatal vitamin but haven't been taking the additional folic acid because I'm worried it's too much... So how much is too much? Thanks!

Eventhough folate is a water soluble vitamin there is a daily limit. The limit is 1000mcg daily, so taking your prenatal vitamin with 800mcg is just fine and under the limit. Another aspect of a pre-natal vitamin is the form of vitamin A. The vitamin A in your prenatal is beta-carotene. It turns out that pre-formed vitamin A taken in large amounts will cause birth defects, beta carotene will not do this. If you are planning a pregnancy, or are pregnant taking a prenatal vitamin is a good idea, the folate was found to prevent neural tube defects.

I think you're taking enough. I just took one Materna vitamin per day and my children are fine. However, I don't think you can have too much anyway, because your body gets rid of the extra vitamins through your urine.

The bottle/container should tell you what to take, follow the instructions on it.

In terms of taking folic acid for prenatal purposes it is recomended that you take 400mcg. So your current dose is quite high. However folic acid itself is not know to be toxic, but it can worsen symptoms of an exsisting Vitamin b12 deficiency, so if your worried that your taking to much get checked out by your doctor.

In general for folic acid you should only take roughly 200mcg as well.

No, that is not too much. I took 2000 mcg when I was pregnant. Just don't take over 5000 mcg.

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