Home › Biomarkers › Folate
Are you 18 or older? Then the recommended daily amount of folate is 300 micrograms. Your body needs folate to make white and red blood cells.[1]
On this page you can read what folate is, what the guidelines say about a level that is too low or too high, what affects your level and which other levels are best looked at alongside it.
Also known as: folic acid, vitamin B11, vitamin B9. At the lab: FOL.
Folate is a water-soluble vitamin. It is also called vitamin B11 or folic acid. In some countries it is called vitamin B9.[1]
In food, folate occurs naturally as tetrahydrofolate polyglutamate. In supplements, and when it is added to foods, it takes the form pteroylmonoglutamic acid, PMG for short.[1]
Folate occurs naturally in vegetables, especially green ones. It is also found in wholegrain products and bread, in meat and in dairy.[1]
Your body needs folate to grow and to work properly. It also plays a part in making white and red blood cells.[1]
Folate is important for the early development of an unborn baby. It helps form the nervous system, which starts to develop from the first day after conception. It lowers the chance of a spinal defect in the baby. It is also linked to a lower chance of premature birth, a low birth weight and possibly a cleft lip, jaw or palate.[1]
Some effects attributed to folate have not been proven. These include effects on the heart and blood vessels, the large intestine, memory and mood. There has not been enough research into them yet, or the results are not clear-cut.[1]
The lab Labplusarts uses a reference range for folate of 5.9 to 35.4 nmol/l. The lab calls a level between those limits normal.[2]
| Amount per day | What it is | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 300 micrograms[1] | Recommended daily amount | 18 years and over |
| 400 micrograms[1] | Recommended daily amount | If you are pregnant |
| 400 micrograms extra from a supplement[1] | Advice on top of your diet | From the moment you want to get pregnant until you are 10 weeks pregnant |
| 500 micrograms[1] | Recommended daily amount | If you are breastfeeding |
| 1,000 micrograms from supplements[1] | Tolerable upper limit | 18 years and over |
Source: Voedingscentrum. How much folate you take in each day, for adults and if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. These are amounts from food and supplements, not levels in your blood.[1]
A serious folate deficiency can lead to anaemia, bowel complaints, tiredness and birth defects. If you take in a little less than the recommended amount, that does not automatically mean you are deficient. For most people, that amount is more than they need.[1]
There is no evidence that a lot of folate from your food is harmful. Folate from tablets (PMG) is a different matter. A high intake of it can make a vitamin B12 deficiency harder to detect.[1]
BioProfile is working on its own zones for each value, from risk to optimal. A doctor reviews those zones before they appear in your result.
You get folate from vegetables, especially green ones, and from wholegrain products and bread, meat and dairy.[1]
In the Netherlands, folate may be added to foods, up to 100 micrograms per 100 kilocalories. You do not have to use these products.[1]
In tablets, folate comes in the form PMG. For adults, the tolerable upper limit for folate from supplements is 1,000 micrograms a day. If you take in too much through supplements, a vitamin B12 deficiency can go unnoticed.[1]
If you are trying to get pregnant, the advice is to take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day, on top of what you get from your food. Start about 4 weeks before you might conceive. From the tenth week of your pregnancy, you no longer need extra folic acid.[1]
Folate is in all five packages, from BioProfile 31 to BioProfile 150.[3]
The BioProfile editorial team wrote this page on 10 October 2026 from the sources below, which we read on 10 October 2026. Every number on this page appears in one of those sources, with that source's number next to it. An expert has yet to check this page; after that check, the expert's name and the date of the check will appear at the top. This page offers explanation, not a diagnosis. Discuss a value outside the range with your GP.
