Deplin Side Effects

Deplin Side Effects

(from Deplin’s Patient Prescribing Information):

The side effects of Deplin are about the same as those of placebo. A placebo is a tablet or liquid with no active medicine. A sugar pill is an example of a placebo. In rare cases, Deplin may cause mild stomach upset or rash. (1)

Deplin is the brand name given to Pamlab’s pharmaceutical formulation of l-methylfolate. L-methylfolate is the bioactive form of the vitamin folate, also known as folic acid or vitamin B9.

Deplin was created and marketed to address a deficiency in individuals who have a genetic mutation that does not allow their bodies to create an enzyme (MTHFR) that transforms regular dietary folate into l-methylfolate.

People who are deficient of this gene have significantly lowered amounts of l-methylfolate. This is significant because l-methylfolate is used to build our most important brain chemicals for mood, cognition and drive. These brain chemicals are serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.

Deplin, by introducing the deficient l-methylfolate into these people’s bodies, allows them to produce these brain chemicals or neurotransmitters and see a significant increase in the parameters mentioned above. It is used alone or as an adjunct with an anti-depressant to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). Deplin provides more neurotransmitters for the anti-depressants to work with.

Deplin is a medical food. “Medical foods are foods that are specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone.” Medical foods must be shown to be essentially harmless to patients, as it is merely a nutritional product that the patient is unable to receive through regular dietary means. Naturally the side effects or adverse reactions to such medical foods are virtually non-existent. Any reactions are usually from an allergic intolerance.

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References

1) Zajecka, J et al. (2012, May) annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. Philidelphia, PA.