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My Toothpaste contains Folic Acid – Should I be Concerned?
Question
I’ve been using PerioPaste Natural Toothpaste for a while now – I love it. It is wonderfully free of all the things I try to avoid in a tooth paste. But, my wife is pickier than me and pointed out that they have Folic Acid. Is this something I should be concerned about? I really like this toothpaste. Thanks in advance for any help with this 🙂
Answer
Folic acid has been used in nutritional supplements for decades. If you do a search on PubMed for folic acid, to read some of the published research on this nutrient, you will find over 4,000 studies relating to its benefits in numerous medical conditions. I have not asked the manufacturer why they decided to put a small amount in the tooth paste, but I cannot see any issues with it being there. I presume they read about some benefits to either the gums or cavity reduction when the product was being formulated. I would only be worried about PerioPaste if they had instead put in the newer converted form called 5-MTHF. I have had a number of patients who had major reactions to that one, as it pushed their detox pathways too hard, even though their physicians had run a DNA test which theoretically showed that they needed it.
– David Getoff, CCN, CTM, FAAIM