Red blood cell (RBC) folate is considered the most reliable indicator of folate status as it reflects tissue stores more closely and is less sensitive to short-term dietary effects. Compared with serum folate, RBC folate can be an indicator of long-term folate status (3 months), and is also recommended by WHO as the only folate marker to prevent NTDs (birth defects).
Advantage of RealMind RBC Folate includes:
· Automatic on-board sample hemolysis (others may need manual sample preparation that takes about 1-1.5hr)
· Automatic on-board HCT measurement & calculation (others may require a second blood sample for an extra HCT test)
· High-sensitive test with precision CV≤3% (others may have poor test precision & sensitivity due to methodology)