ABSTRACT
Folate is a water-soluble vitamin that cannot be synthesized by the body itself and must be obtained by external supplementation.There is substantial evidence that folate deficiency causes neural tube defects, partial birth defects, dementia, and certain types of cancer.However, excessive supplementation of folic acid(FA), the main form of supplementation at present, will increase the potential risk of certain diseases for oneself and future generations.Therefore, it is of great significance to explore new supplementation methods for folate supplementation in the population.This paper will discuss the progress of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate(5-MTHF)supplementation and the feasibility of replacing the chemical folic acid in terms of toxicology, bioavailability, vitamin B12 coverup, single nucleotide polymorphisms of folate metabolism-related enzyme genes, and fortification effect.