The amount of Folate in Essential Prenatal is listed as the new Daily Values (DV’s), which were recently updated by the FDA. The new Folate DV is called "mcg DFE" (Dietary Folate Equivalents), which takes into account the different forms and activities of folate types in your diet, fortified foods, and supplements. The Methylated Folate (active form) we use, food form folate (a mixture of types), and the synthetic Folic Acid commonly used in fortified foods and supplements have well-known differences in activity that are now corrected in the new mcg DFE DV.

Our prenatal has 1000 mcg of Methylated Folate (what we would have labeled if we used the previous DV’s), which looks higher than other folate forms under the new mcg DFE format. We also chose 1000 mcg instead of 800 mcg (the previous DV for pregnant women) of Methylated Folate to cover those individuals on the higher end of the folate need spectrum, which is crucial for early pregnancy. Unlike synthetic folic acid, our Methylated Folate is easily utilized and metabolized.

If you want to run the new mcg DFE DV numbers by your healthcare professional, check out the discussion guide, which breaks down how we formulated Essential Prenatal.