If your child has been diagnosed with
autism, attention deficit, [music]
or learning disorder, there's a 75%
chance antibodies are literally blocking
a critical vitamin from entering their
brain. And this isn't rare, and it's not
genetic in most cases. And in many kids,
it's at least [music] partially
reversible, especially if you can
address it before your child is 5 years
old. Most doctors never mention it, not
because they're hiding anything. It is
not taught [music] in medical school.
insurance doesn't cover the testing and
there isn't an expensive pharmaceutical
drug to hand [music] you. Recently,
Lucavorin, which is a prescription form
of folate, was added to the clinical
recommendations [music] for autism. And
this announcement caused a lot of
confusion and backlash in [music] the
autism community. I'm Dr. Ben Lynch. I
spent over 15 years studying folate
metabolism and how to restore brain
function. And in this video, I want to
address two key points that this [music]
announcement did not have time to do.
why lucavorin is not a silver bullet and
why focusing only on this medication
misses a huge [music] part of the story
and here's what's really happening and
what you can do about it.
Doctors are prescribing 5 to 25
milligrams of lucavorin to bypass
blocked folate pathways and to force
folate into your child's brain. They are
cramming this folate through tiny backup
routes to handle only 5% of folate
transport and it does work for many
kids. But if you remove what's blocking
the other 95% of folate transport, you
can give a fraction of what is needed,
800 micrograms, and you can get better
results. Your brain has three ways to
transport folate past the protective
bloodb brain barrier and into the brain.
The main route handles 75 to 85% of all
folate transport and the secondary route
handles only about 10 to 20% and then
the backup route handles a measly 5%.
When the main route gets blocked by
antibodies, which happens about 75% of
the time in children with autism,
Lucavorin has to use the other two
backup routes, which are the secondary
route and the backup. And that's only
about 15 to 25% of normal capacity. But
it gets worse. If your child is still
consuming folic acid, it does clog up
the secondary route, reducing its
function. And we're not even done there.
If they have low vitamin D or low
glutathione, which is your body's master
antioxidant, and low glutathione comes
from poor diet, Tylenol infections,
[music]
this backup route becomes further
inaccessible, losing another 20 to 40%
of its capacity. [music] So now you're
no longer working with 15 to 25%
capacity. Your child might be only down
to 5 or 10%. And that is why doctors
[music] need to give 25,000 micrograms
of lucavorin because they're literally
forcing massive amounts through a narrow
damaged pathway hoping enough gets
through. It's literally like sending
25,000 cars down two side streets
because the four-lane highway is [music]
blocked and one of those side streets is
also under construction. And yes,
[music] some cars get through and that
is why Luca Orin does work for some
kids. Language does improve,
communications improve, behaviors
improve. But here's the problem. Kids
improve initially, and then they
plateau, and the parents think it
stopped working. No, the doctors never
address the blockages. [music] What if
you could actually reopen the main
highway? You clear the secondary route.
You repair the backup road. [music] You
actually can. How? There are three
things that you need to do. You remove
the folic acid that's clogging the
primary and secondary routes. You
optimize the vitamin D to maximize the
backup rout's capacity. And then you
support glutathione gently [music] to
restore function that's been damaged by
oxidative stress. In about a month's
time, these backup [music] pathways can
work at a significantly improved
capacity once again. And you don't need
to use 25,000 micrograms of lucavorin
anymore. You might actually only need
800 micrograms. And even that may be
[music] too much. So before you start
highdosese lucavorin, ask your doctor
two questions. Hey doc, what's blocking
my kids folate [music] from entering
their brain? And can we address these
issues while we start the lucavin? Most
docs won't have an answer. And it's not
[music] because they don't care. It's
because they are not taught this in
medical school.
The antibodies blocking folate aren't
random and they're not genetic. They're
triggered by two things. Synthetic folic
acid and this has been added to the food
supply since 1998. and the other dairy
protein, which 71 to 76% of kids with
autism react to by producing folate
receptor antibodies. In 2005, a European
doctor named Dr. Ray Makers was doing
spinal taps on kids with neurological
issues. He kept finding the same thing,
critically low folate and their cerebral
spinal fluid, even though their blood
folate levels were normal. Their brains
were literally starving for folate, but
it could not get in. And then this doc
partnered with Dr. Cuadros who later
discovered that these kids had folate
receptor antibodies. Their immune system
was attacking the very receptors
designed to transport folate into their
brain. And your body just doesn't make
antibodies which attack itself. These
docs knew they had to figure out what
was triggering these antibodies. And
they found a trigger, dairy protein. And
it doesn't seem to matter if it's cow
dairy or goat dairy. The structure of
dairy protein mimics the folate receptor
just enough that when kids consume
dairy, their immune [music] system makes
antibodies against it. And those
antibodies crossreact with their own
folate [music] receptor. Studies now
show that 71 to 70% of these children
with autism have these antibodies.
That's bad, especially since it is not
addressed. But what makes it even worse?
Folic acid. Folic acid. the unnatural
non-human form of folate added to your
bread, cereal, pasta, prenatal vitamins,
[music] and infant formula. And folic
acid preferentially binds to the same
folate receptors as your good
biologically available folate. [music]
So even if the dairy antibodies weren't
completely blocking the folate receptor,
folic acid is occupying the space where
natural folate should be binding. But
isn't folate good? Did I lose you?
Here's an analogy that makes you realize
how toxic folic acid is compared to real
natural folate. You know, carbon
monoxide, it's bad. It's actually so bad
that it can kill you. But how [music]
does it kill you? Here's how. Your red
blood cells use hemoglobin to carry
oxygen throughout your body. But when
carbon monoxide is present, it binds to
your hemoglobin 200 times stronger than
oxygen. So even though you're breathing
in plenty of air with plenty [music] of
oxygen, your blood can't carry it. The
carbon monoxide bound all the seats and
fiercely. Your tissues starve for oxygen
even though oxygen is everywhere.
[music] And this is exactly what folic
acid does to your child's brain. Folic
acid performs [music]
no biological effect in the human body.
None. It's garbage. I have a link to
another video for you to learn about
this in the description below. This
garbage folic acid binds to folate
receptors about three times more
strongly than natural usable
biologically available forms of folate.
When your child consumes folic acid from
fortified [music] cereals, bread, or
supplements, that synthetic folic acid
grabs onto the receptors and it won't
let go. The natural folate, the kind
that brain actually needs, [music] it
can't get through. It's stuck in the
blood. This is why kids can have [music]
normal or even high folate levels in
their blood, but critically low folate
levels in their brain. Studies have
shown that when children with cerebral
folate deficiency were given highdose
folic acid, their brain [music] levels
didn't improve. In fact, they got worse.
And when they stopped the folic acid,
their brain folate normalized. Folic
acid was the problem, not the solution.
This is why folic acid is literally
contraindicated, [music] meaning
actively harmful and you must avoid it.
And cerebral folate deficiency. [music]
The National Organization for Rare
Disorders clearly states it. Folic acid
supplementation is not recommended
because [music] it can worsen symptoms
and even trigger seizures. It's like
trying to unlock your front door using
[music] the wrong key. The key fits, but
it doesn't unlock the door. You can't
get in. The folic acid fits, but it
can't get in. And the only way to get in
is you got to remove the wrong key and
use the right one. The same goes for
folate. And you should. And here's how
you can get folate into your kid's
brain. If your child has autism, ADHD,
[music]
learning disabilities, or behavioral
issues, eliminate two things completely.
All dairy, cow milk, goat milk, A2
[music] milk, raw milk, cheese, yogurt,
keer, ice cream, it doesn't matter.
Dairy as a whole must be eliminated.
Ghee, which is clarified butter, may
actually be tolerated because it's pure
fat with minimal protein. And then you
have to eliminate all folic acid.
[music] Check every supplement label.
Avoid fortified foods because the
fortified foods of where you can find
folic acid and that's bread, cereal,
pasta, energy bars, drinks, infant
formula. And this isn't the try it and
see situation. You have to commit 100%.
Even one bite of dairy triggers
antibodies that can persist for weeks to
months.
In 1998, the FDA mandated folic acid
fortification of the food supply to
prevent neural tube defects. It kind of
worked for that. More on that in a
future video. Here's what they didn't
account for. Folic acid is not the same
as folate. Your body wants zero folic
acid. It has no biological effect on the
body in its unnatural state. Folic acid
has to be processed by folate enzymes in
order to have any biological effect. And
when you overwhelm the enzymes that
process folic acid, the folic acid
blocks the very receptors you need to
get real folate into your brain and into
your kid's brain. Folic acid is
completely synthetic. It does not exist
in nature. [music] Your body has to
convert it through an enzyme called
DHFR, which is dihydropholate reductase.
And that enzyme is extremely slow. Just
200 micrograms of folic acid overwhelms
it. And when DHFR gets overwhelmed, two
bad things happen. First, un metabolized
folic acid, which is just folic acid,
builds up in your bloodstream and blocks
your folate receptors. This means you
don't get real folate [music] into your
brain. Second, DHFR can't do its real
job, which is not processing folic acid.
It's actually recycling a compound
called bioptine. Bioptine is what your
brain uses to make dopamine, serotonin,
and nitric [music] oxide. So, the
consequence of folic acid blocking
folate transport and recycling bioprine
massively reduce neurotransmitter
production and reduce blood [music]
flow. This explains why kids with
cerebral folate deficiency have the
specific symptoms they do. Low dopamine
leads to movement disorders. Low
motivation, learning issues, attention
problems, and muscle rigidity. Low
serotonin leads to mood issues, anxiety,
OCD, poor sleep, constipation,
headaches, potentially migraines. Low
nitric oxide leads to reduced blood flow
to the brain, and as a result, cognitive
impairment. What's ironic is that folic
acid is contraindicated in cerebral
folate deficiency. Meaning, [music] if
your child has this condition, giving
them folic acid makes the condition
worse. They know this, but they still
give folic acid to pregnant women,
infants, and everyone on the planet. We
are all somewhat cerebral deficient.
Just where on the spectrum are we? Go
through your pantry right now. Throw out
any supplements folic acid on the label.
Throw away and avoid fortified foods,
breads, cereals, pastas, energy bars,
and processed snacks. [music] And while
you won't find natural folates on food
labels, you will find them on supplement
labels. Look for methylolate. And
methylolate has many different types of
names. It's sometimes listed as 5- MTHF
or L5 MTHF [music]
or many other ways. The key is seeing
methyl in front of folate. Folinic acid.
Sometimes it's listed [music] as five
formal tetrahydropholate or calcium
folate. Lucaorin is simply the
pharmaceutical version of folinic acid.
Never ever use folic acid. Toss it.
Don't buy it.
Even if you remove dairy and folic acid,
your child's brain still might not be
able to fully access fully because the
backup pathways are impaired by
oxidative stress, low vitamin D, and
elevated homoyine. This is why some kids
don't respond to lucavorin even at high
doses. The backup pathways themselves
are not functioning. The backup
pathways, the ones lucorin has to use
when the main highway is blocked, depend
heavily on three key things. First,
vitamin D. It literally turns on the
backup pathways and increases their
capacity. Studies show that vitamin D
can increase brain folate up to sixfold.
If your child's vitamin D is low, which
is below 40 on a blood test, those
backup pathways simply cannot function
at full capacity. Even 50,000 micrograms
of lucavorin won't get through
efficiently if vitamin D levels are low.
It's like having a full tank of gas in
your car, but the starter is out. The
gas won't ignite. You have all the
lucavin you need, but it can't get
through. Second, glutathione, your
body's master antioxidant. Glutathione
protects the backup pathways from
oxidative damage. And when glutathione
is low from poor diet, tenol use,
infections, or chemical exposures from
chlorine, from maldahhide, arsenic, the
backup folate pathways lose another 20
to 40% of their function. It's like the
backup roads developing potholes. The
path is still there, but traffic slows
to a crawl. Third is homocyine. When
elevated, homocyine becomes an
inflammatory compound that directly
blocks folate from binding to the main
receptor. And when homocyine is
elevated, usually from a lack of B
vitamins, low glutathione or genetics,
it acts like a physical barrier. Even if
we remove the dairy antibodies, the high
homocyine keeps the main highway
blocked. If your child has low vitamin
D, which is below 40 on a blood test,
low glutathione from poor diet, Tylenol,
common chemicals or infections, or high
homocyine, a compound from a lack of B
vitamins, then even highdosese lucavirin
won't work well. The pathways can't
support it. And this is why Emma's case
is so important. I'll tell you more
about her case study in just a moment,
but she was on 5 milligs of lucavorin
daily. After a few weeks, she became
irritable and she couldn't sleep. When
they removed the folic acid and dairy,
they added small amounts of glutathione
and hydroxybalamin and dropped her
lucorin to 400 micrograms. She actually
improved dramatically within just one
week. Work with a practitioner to test
your vitamin D levels in your child. Aim
for 40 to 60 and some practitioners
actually target 50 to 80 for
neurological conditions. Support
glutathione gently through glutathione
lozenes or you can use dietary sources,
eggs, garlic, cruciferous veggies. Test
and optimize homocyine. The ideal range
is six to seven and you can support with
vitamin B2, B6, B12, methylolate and
trimethlycine. Low homocyine below five
is also an issue. Need to have homoyine
ideally around 6 to [music] 7. And no
one talks about low homocyine. I will in
a future video. I do have an article on
it for you though in the description
below.
Talking point five, about 23 to 35% of
kids don't respond to lucavorin even at
high doses. That doesn't mean the
approach is wrong. That means if you
have 100 kids using Lucavorin, [music]
35 of them aren't responding to
treatment. That's not good, especially
if it's your kid. This is why it's so
important you realize that there are
other issues you need to address and
that you can address. Chronic
infections, gut dysfunction,
mitochondrial issues, or continued
exposure to folic acid and dairy. I've
seen parents do everything right. remove
the dairy, remove folic acid, balance
the homocyine, optimize the vitamin D
and they still don't see sufficient
improvements. Then we dig deeper and we
actually find something. Persistent gut
infections are typically what's found.
Candida, SIBO, parasites, burning
through the glutathione and increasing
inflammation. Chronic ear infections or
sinus infections keep the immune system
activated. Continued consumption of
folic acid hidden in supplements, energy
drinks, and protein bars. And even green
tea, especially in higher amounts or
extracts, contain compounds that can
slow the DHFR enzyme needed to process
folic acid in addition to blocking the
absorption of folate. You cannot outs
supplement chronic infections. If your
child's body is fighting an ongoing
infection, it's burning through
antioxidants constantly. The folate
might be getting into the brain, but the
brain cannot use it effectively because
all the downstream pathways aren't
functioning well. You resolve one
problem only to find out you need to
remove yet another one. Eventually, you
remove a keystone problem and suddenly
your child is back. It seems [music]
like the last thing you did was the
magic bullet, but it was all the other
foundational things as well which paved
the way for that most recent
intervention to be so effective. This is
also why some kids improve on lucorin
initially and then plateau. The
medication provided some support, but
the root causes are still there. If your
child isn't responding to lucavorin or
dietary changes, test for gut infections
and food allergies. I like to use the US
biotech IGG98 food panel tests and then
you can address chronic infections as
well. Then you also eliminate the foods
that are triggering the immune system.
Audit everything, the supplements,
[music] snacks, drinks. Folic acid hides
in unexpected places. And avoid green
tea during meals because it blocks fate
absorption. But how many kids are
sipping on green tea or matcha? This is
more for the pregnant and breastfeeding
moms out there.
Emma was born to a mother who had two
miscarriages. Her doctor prescribed 4
milligrams of folic acid daily, many
times over the standard dosage. Emma
struggled from day one. By 6 months of
age, she had severe developmental
delays. She couldn't hold her head up.
She wasn't gaining weight. And as a
result, doctors put her on 5 milligs of
lucavorin. She did improve a bit. And
then she plateaued. Then a naturopathic
doctor did something radical. On 5
milligrams of lucavorin alone, Emma had
initial improvement but plateaued 3
months in. The expanded treatment
involved removing all folic acid, all
dairy, reducing lucavorin to 400
micrograms, adding in vitamin D, adding
in glutathional loages and
hydroxycobalamin. And within just one
week, she slept through the night for
the first time. Within a month, she had
her first words. Emma's mother was doing
what her doctor told her. Take highdose
folic acid to prevent miscarriage and
then give infant formula with folic
acid. But that folic acid crossed the
placenta and blocked Emma's folate
receptors before she was even born. Then
the dairybased formula with added folic
acid made it [music] worse. The cheddar
cheese goldfish crackers and the loved
were also a major factor as they
contained everything that was bad.
Gluten, dairy, folic [music] acid, not
to mention the MSG and seed oils. This
isn't about blaming the mother or the
doctor. It's about understanding that
public health guidelines don't account
for individual biochemistry. It also
shows that the government is extremely
far behind where they need to be.
Science has progressed and the
government is stuck controlled by
lobbyists.
Talking point seven, your doctor isn't
withholding this information from you.
They generally don't know. Medical
schools don't teach folate receptor
antibodies. [music] They learn that
folic acid is life-saving and
healthpromoting. Recommending that
parents remove folic acid goes directly
against FDA guidelines and public health
policy. It's up to you to figure it out
and that's why you're here and that's
why I'm making these videos for you. I
know you need help and I know your kids
need help. Dr. Ray Makers discovered
cerebral folate deficiency in 2005. Dr.
Fry published research showing 75% of
autism cases have folate receptor
antibodies in 2013. The fully receptor
auto antibbody test, also known as FRAT,
[music]
became commercially available around
2015. That's 10 to 20 years of research,
but [music] it's still not in medical
textbooks. Pediatricians graduating
today learn nothing about this in
school, and they won't learn it. Big
pharma essentially governs what is
taught in medical schools, [music] and
big pharma has no desire to solve this
problem. In fact, they love it. And
here's the bigger problem. Even if
doctors know they can't [music] tell you
to stop folic acid, the FDA mandates the
fortification of your food and your
[music] supplements. The CDC recommends
it for pregnancy. The American Council
of Obstitricians and Gynecologists say
pregnant women must take 400 to 800
micrograms of folic acid daily, even if
MTHFR variants are present. All infant
formula is mandated to have folic acid
in it. For a doctor to say, don't take
folic acid, they're going against
federal guidelines. I'm right now going
against federal guidelines, [music]
telling you these federal agencies and
councils are flatout wrong. This is why
you have to advocate for yourself.
[music] Your doctor isn't the enemy.
They're operating within a system that
doesn't recognize this condition. They
don't cover the testing. [music] They
don't support the treatment and they
actively recommend the very things that
make it worse. If your pediatrician
says, "I've never heard of this," bring
them the research. Ask them to order the
folate receptor auto antibbody test. The
link to the test is in the description
below. If they won't, find a MAP
certified physician or naturopathic
doctor or functional medicine doctor who
will help you. You don't need their
permission to remove dairy or folic acid
from your child's diet. You can do that
right now, [music] and you can do it for
yourself as well.
What do you do if your child has autism,
learning difficulties, or ADHD, and you
think this might be happening? Here's
what you can start right now without
waiting for your doctor's approval,
without expensive testing, and without a
prescription. First, clean out your
pantry. Go through every supplement
bottle, every box of cereal, every
protein bar, every energy drink. If it
says folic acid on the label, toss it.
It's garbage. This is non-negotiable.
Folic acid should be contraindicated in
all humans, regardless of health status.
It's just an impediment. Second,
eliminate all dairy, milk, cheese,
yogurt, [music] keir, ice cream, A2,
raw, cow, goat. No exceptions. This
isn't try it for a week situation. You
literally have to commit 100%. Even a
sip of dairy can trigger antibodies that
can persist for weeks. Ghee can be
actually used because it's pure fat with
minimal protein. Avoid green tea with
meals. Third, test and optimize three
things with a practitioner. Vitamin D,
you want to target that from 40 to 60
range. Some practitioners actually opt
for 50 to 80 for neurological
conditions. [music] Homocyine, target 6
to 7 micro moles per liter. And you can
support healthy homoysteine levels with
vitamin B2, B6, B12, methylolate and
TMG. You can order the fully receptor
antibbody test and you can see what
those levels are and you can work on
getting them down. These four things
determine whether folate can [music]
actually get into their brain. Fourth,
consider lower dose felinic acid, not
highdose lucavin. You can [music] start
with 200 to 800 micrograms, not 5,000 to
50,000. That's a lot. You can also use
felinic acid lozenes which provide 800
micrograms of felinic acid per lozenge.
And then I recommend cutting the lozenge
into quarters [music] and starting low.
They taste good and are wellreceived by
kids. Monitor for improvements in
language, mood, sleep, and behavior. If
you see side effects like irritability,
insomnia, reduce the dose. [music] Use
the pulse method. Give it on days where
the symptoms are worse and skip it on
the days that your kid is doing well. If
you discover your kid actually needs
really high doses of lucavorin, work
with a compounding pharmacy to ensure
purity. Commercial lucavorin often
contains lactose, some vinyl plastic
compound, and food coloring. Fifth,
address underlying [music] infections.
If your child isn't responding to
dietary changes, dig deeper. Test for
gut [music] infections, candida, SIBO,
parasites. Address chronic ear
infections or [music] sinus infections,
or anything that's keeping the immune
system activated. You cannot outs
supplement a chronic infection. Sixth,
support with glutathione, but gently.
Glutathione, your body's master
antioxidant, [music] is key for folate
transport and healthy levels of
inflammation. You can use a glutathione
lozenge that uses estil glutathione,
which is the most stable form as [music]
that allows you to use small amounts
safely and your kid will like the taste
and you can further divide the lozenge
into smaller amounts if needed. NAC is
not ideal as NAC is only one of four
ingredients needed [music] to make
glutathione and the high sulfur content
of NAC can actually be problematic to
your child's gut. And they need to watch
out for liposomaal glutathione as most
use the reduced glutathione form and it
[music] is not stable. Here's the truth.
Some kids will respond within days.
Others will take months. Some will need
higher doses of fenic [music] acid
initially and then they can taper down.
Some won't need it at all once the
pathways are open. The goal isn't to be
on supplements forever. The goal is to
restore your child's natural ability to
transport folate [music] into their
brain. So you can start today. Go
through your pantry, throw out
everything with folic acid. Schedule a
vitamin D test for your child [music]
this week and ask your doctor to order
the FRAT test, the folate receptor auto
antibbody test. If they haven't heard of
it, that's normal. It's not taught in
med school yet. Bring them this research
or find a MAP certified physician or
functional medicine doctor who
specializes in this. Don't wait for
permission. Don't wait for your doctor
to catch up [music] on the research.
Your child needs this. Now, if you want
to go deeper on how folic acid affects
pregnancy and brain development, watch
this next video where I break down the
connection between Tylenol, folic acid,
and autism risk, and [music] what every
expecting mother needs to