Interesting story from today. A distributor of mine (yes, I actually have a team of people out telling the world about Juice Plus, along with other things like the 60 Day Turnaround), sent me a text from someone complaining about juice plus because they saw it contained folic acid, not folate. Which I found funny.
Funny, because they likely didn’t do any research, just read it somewhere, saw it, “who knows” it… and responded. So I thought, “huh, I don’t recall juice plus adding anything other than to assist in preserving, or in sustaining the capsule, what is this about?”
So I did some digging, and before sharing what I found, I first want to express the difference between folic acid and folate. Folic acid, to many of you, is something you want. Especially pregnant women pre-conception and early development. Folic acid however, is the synthetic version of folate. Commonly referred to as Vitamin B9, Folate/Folic acid is used to synthesize and repair DNA among other things. Making it crucial in developmental stages.
Considering that, we can see the value is obvious to have it in your system. Now here, before we go any further… WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
From the NIH : Food
Folate is found naturally in a wide variety of foods, including vegetables (especially dark green leafy vegetables), fruits and fruit juices, nuts, beans, peas, dairy products, poultry and meat, eggs, seafood, and grains (Table 2) [3,7]. Spinach, liver, yeast, asparagus, and Brussels sprouts are among the foods with the highest levels of folate.
FOOD ITEM/McG per serving/% Daily Volume
Brussels sprouts, frozen, boiled, ˝ cup | 78 | 20 |
Lettuce, romaine, shredded, 1 cup | 64 | 16 |
Avocado, raw, sliced, ˝ cup | 59 | 15 |
Spinach, raw, 1 cup | 58 | 15 |
Broccoli, chopped, frozen, cooked, ˝ cup | 52 | 13 |
Mustard greens, chopped, frozen, boiled, ˝ cup | 52 | 13 |
Green peas, frozen, boiled, ˝ cup | 47 | 12 |
This chart and the statements above, are reasons why the best source is to eat it, and to eat it naturally, or the next best thing is Juice Plus. So why did they find folic acid in it? Because folic acid is added in the form of the small amounts of grain added to the product, which is insignificant compared to the actual amount of folate present in the product.
So why does Juice Plus not state that they have folate in it? Because the nature of the juice plus product is to state what food is in it. They DO NOT separate vitamins and minerals, because they are all in there because they all occur naturally in the food. As a culture we have grown so used to lists of stuff that we want to take, such as a supplement list. That we have forgotten how to trust the best source, the food.
The volumes of research in the Juice Plus world, showing the value of supplementing this way, outshine all others. Period. This citation from the the Journal Nutrition had demonstrated an increase in blood folate as well as a reduction in homocysteine, a marker for heart disease.
This is important and significant information for all of you who have a heart disease concern and or risk. Get yourself eating 13 servings a day of vegetables and fruit, and add Juice Plus at 1 capsule = one serving to make up the difference. Questions? Reach out to me, I can answer.
Be well and Be blessed! – Dr. E
Thank-you for your prompt reply, I appreciate it! Forgive me; I need a little more clarification:
1. So the folic acid in JP is not synthetic?
2. Small amounts of grain is added – that’s where the folic acid in JP comes from?
3. The JP website/facts link you shared stated that the folic acid is “obtained from bio-fermentation” – what does this mean? I couldn’t seem to find any info on the internet about this process. And they bioferment the grains to make folic acid? I thought there was only one type of folic acid – pteroylglutamic acid – which is synthetic.
Feel free to answer after each question, if easier for you. Thx for your patience!
Hey theresa – JP adds folic acid (and there really is no chemical difference, this is one of the easier nutrients to actually truly replicate, between folate and folic acid)… but, back to what I was saying. JP adds it, in my best understanding, because it is heavily present in the leaves and does not easily juice from the plant. This is one of those nutrients that makes sense to eat it in the plant, so it is added to help assist those who are using JP without eating the plants. Of course, we know that our goal is to provide reasons and effort to get people to eat the food first, then take the JP.
But you are correct, if it comes straight from the food, it is folate. However their site says that it is folic acid. https://www.juiceplus.com/gb/en/about-us/faq/juiceplus
Pls notify me of f/up comments by email, thx! Theresa
Dr. Eric,
Thank-you for your article! I, too, am on the JP team and love sharing it w others. I am still confused about the folic acid in JP. My questions:
1. Why do they add folic acid to JP in the first place?
2. If folic acid is added in the form of grains added to the product, then isn’t that really folate and not folic acid? And the folic acid in JP is not synthetic?
Thx for answering my questions.