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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Effect of folic acid, methyl folate, zinc and vitamin B6

During the course of several multivitamin tablets and capsules, I observed the effects of few components such as folic acid, methylfolate, zinc and vitamin B6. Actually, these effects are observed when these compounds are taken along with a multivitamin tablet/capsule. Those multivitamin tablet/capsule contain less than daily recommended value of folic acid, zinc and vitamin B6.

When taken alone, zinc 15 mg gives sleepiness and dullness. In contrast, when zinc and vitamin B6 (at least 6 mg) are combined, it gives opposite effect. With this combination, sometimes I don't feel sleepy even around 1.30 am. But If I lie down on bed, I used to get good sleep and complete sleep. Even if it is a 6 hrs sleep, after getting up, even though I still feel the same tiredness and inertia, I don't get the feeling of "not slept enough". Earlier, I used to get "not slept enough....need to sleep for long hours to make up the loss" feeling, if i sleep less than 8 or 9 hours. Because of this feeling, I used to sleep for 8-10 hours during the weekends and 7-9 hours during the weekdays. with zinc and B6 combination, I never worried about sleep debt. Some afternoons, I felt sleepy. But, no urge to lie down and sleep. Earlier, many times I used to go to house and sleep from office. Those times, simply I could not control my sleepiness.

Zinc, when taken alone or in combination gives good muscle flexibility and endurance to sustain 45 minutes of pedaling in cross trainer. However, zinc taken at night disturbs the sleep and the next day I used to feel sleepy. Zinc also heals the skin bruises and scratches fast. My skin around the hand finger nails used to peel off after getting scratched while inserting into my back pant pocket. After taking zinc, simply I don't get this. 



Compound
Effect
Remarks
Folic acid
2.5 mg of folic acid gives energy and feelings of pleasure. When listening to music, it gives a very good feeling of intense happiness (just one level below mild euphoria )

Methylfolate
3.75 mg of methylfolate gives mainly enhancement of serotonergic function leading to dullness and sleepiness. On prolonged administration more than 2 weeks, it gives stabilized mood and energy.

Zinc
15 mg of zinc + vitamin C 250 mg
Positive effects
·         good energy and positive mood,
·         reduced day time sleepiness (not completely abolishing but to some extent),
·         feeling of completed sleep
·         Healing of skin scratches and bruises
·         No gasping for breath while exercising, while climbing stairs and while talking

Negative effects
profuse sweating, pronounced stuttering, reduced fluency, non-stutterable pause, slightly reduced motivation, significantly reduced concentration and focus, reduced libido and erections.

7.5 mg – 10 mg of zinc in the form of aminochelate

All the above effects in reduced intensity (dose-dependent reduction) with improved speech fluency and reduced stuttering but still mild non-stutterable pause is there

Without the zinc, I used to feel sleepy and lethargic with any multivitamin combination.

After I observed non-stutterable pause, I stopped taking zinc. The next day, great improvement in energy, mood and almost nil non-stutterable pause was observed.

I googled and found that Zinc can induce Parkinson's like syndrome in animal models by causing death of striatal dopaminergic neurons.

Minocycline Rescues from Zinc-Induced Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Neurodegeneration: Biochemical and Molecular Interventions.
Vitamin B6 / Pyridoxine HCl
1-5 mg gives moderate energy, focus and concentration. 5-10 mg gives optimum energy, focus and concentration. Above 10 mg gives profuse sweating, sleepiness, reduced loudness of speech and little anxiety due to pronounced stuttering