ABSTRACT
Studies of folic acid metabolism in men and women by A. D. Welch et al. demonstrated that the administration of ascorbic acid promptly increased the conversion of folic acid to folinic acid in normal subjects. In vitro studies by C. A. Nichol and Welch and Nichol showed that the conversion of folic acid to folinic acid by rat liver slices is significantly augmented by ascorbic acid. Clearly, both ascorbic acid and folic acid are essential; ascorbic acid can only correct the metabolism of folic acid when some folic acid is present in the diet and is being absorbed. P. L. Stokes et al. studied the metabolism of folinic acid, administered before and during treatment of scorbutic megaloblastic anemia. There are several compounds including the 10 formyl and the 5–10 formyl, as well as the 5-formyl tetrahydrofolic acids, which are all folinic acids. The net effect of scurvy is to increase requirements for folic acid.
