Hi,

I am wondering how people keep folate at a normal level on the lion diet. I've been on it for 3 years and my bloodwork indicated low folate, but I ignored it thinking it may be similar to Vitamin C situation. It worked reasonably well until this past June when I first noticed severe and worsening heartburn. Then I noticed my heart racing during mild physical activity. Long story short, I developed severe anemia with hemoglobin at 80, liquid in the lungs, developing heart failure.

I read some stats and understood it was inevitable due to very low folate content in beef muscle meat. One would have to eat a minimum of 150g of beef liver every single day, not occasionally, to get the daily norm. And that might result in copper toxicity, I guess.

So is the lion diet really not viable long term or am I perhaps genetically incapable to somehow preserve folate while others can?

Cheers,

Vini

Welcome Vini.

This is interesting because this is the first time I’ve heard of anyone being on a carnivore diet having a folate or vitamin B deficiency. Especially when eating nothing but red meats.

It appears to me that you may have a unique situation within your body that is causing this. What it may be I wouldn’t know. A couple of things that can cause a folate deficiency are certain medications and alcohol use. Since you have been eating Lion I would assume that alcohol is not in your diet.

It sounds to me like you may need to stop eating Lion and possibly consider adding a few things to your diet if they don’t affect you in other ways. Eggs would be my first choice to add back in followed by liver of some sort with chicken being the mildest. Next would be avocado even though I can’t stand them but they do have a fairly healthy fat. Last would be nuts or legumes such as peanuts and leafy green vegetables. Now I can only speak for myself but before I would start eating nuts, peanuts or vegetables I’d start taking a folate supplement.

We lost a granddaughter at birth to a folate deficiency in her mother so ever since then my daughter has taken folic acid to supplement her diet and has since had three healthy children.

Folate deficiency can be very serious and you really need to do something about it soon as it can lead to other issues in your body both physically and mentally.

I hope this helps and let us know what you decide to do and how it works out for you.

Hi Geezy, thanks for your reply. You're right, I had no alcohol, otherwise it would not have been a Lion diet.

I did start eating eggs and taking folate supplement of course, although not folic acid but L-methylfolate (5-MTHF), which is a natural form not requiring any conversion, and also added long neglected beef liver. Recovery is slow, so far after a week I have almost no liquid left in my lungs, but other symptoms remain almost unchanged so far.

Very sorry about your granddaughter. This folate thing is an underappreciated serious matter. However, the gov's solution of force-feeding folic acid to everybody is wrong as usual and immoral in general IMO. This substance is not found in nature as elaborated in a recent youtube video by dr. John Campbell.

By the way, before starting L-methylfolate I could not tolerate butter, eggs and many other things. But now I tolerate them rather well, not sure why.

Cheers

After 18-20 months on carnivore and primarily on red meat with some chicken, pork and fish, I showed low folate last December during bloodwork for an eye exam.

I have not been really good about the folate medicine and it showed again in May. I just put my stuff together to start on Monday.

I have not seen nor felt any of the negatives while working out. Actually, I have ramped up my workouts as of late without any issues.

Maybe the only thing I have noticed is that I am not sleeping all that well for the last few months. I can go right to sleep at my normal bed time, sleep three or four and sometimes five hours and then wide awake, which is 1-2-3 in the morning depending on when I go to bed. I also have had some late in the day energy level drops that I hadn't experienced but haven't attributed it to anything other than the irregular sleep.

Reading this I may need to take it more seriously.

I really didn't expect a folate issue.

Thanks for the information.

Scott

42 minutes ago, Scott F. said:

After 18-20 months on carnivore and primarily on red meat with some chicken, pork and fish, I showed low folate last December during bloodwork for an eye exam.

I have not been really good about the folate medicine and it showed again in May. I just put my stuff together to start on Monday.

I have not seen nor felt any of the negatives while working out. Actually, I have ramped up my workouts as of late without any issues.

Maybe the only thing I have noticed is that I am not sleeping all that well for the last few months. I can go right to sleep at my normal bed time, sleep three or four and sometimes five hours and then wide awake, which is 1-2-3 in the morning depending on when I go to bed. I also have had some late in the day energy level drops that I hadn't experienced but haven't attributed it to anything other than the irregular sleep.

Reading this I may need to take it more seriously.

I really didn't expect a folate issue.

Thanks for the information.

Scott

I did not expect issues with folate either. Have been playing soccer very hard all my life and 2 years ago at 47 was still competing with 25 yo on the pitch. Then I ruptured ACL for the second time, and only due to that had to stop playing. Still had plenty of energy, but the knee took long to recover and required second surgery to partially remove damaged meniscus.

I have been having sleep issues similar to yours from time to time for many years.

My conclusion is do not ignore low folate for too long. Just add liver regularly (not only for folate) and take 5-MTHF - it may further improve other health aspects as well. I suspect and have some information that folate deficit may lead to gut permeability due to gut lining cells being unable to be built properly.

Thanks for the insight.

I will do a bunch of reading over the next couple days.

I didn't think too much of it but I guess I should.

Scott

On 8/1/2026 at 1:41 AM, Vini said:

this past June when I first noticed severe and worsening heartburn. Then I noticed my heart racing during mild physical activity. Long story short, I developed severe anemia with hemoglobin at 80, liquid in the lungs, developing heart failure

What you describe is a medical emergency. I'm assuming you've been to a doctor already about this if you are aware that you have severe anemia, know your hemoglobin, and know you have liquid in the lungs. Severe folate deficiency can produce megaloblastic anemia that progresses exactly this way (high-output heart failure). Your medical professionals should be able to give you high-dose folate and investigate potential contributors like B12, iron, absorption issues, etc. Are they working to stabilize you?

On 8/1/2026 at 1:41 AM, Vini said:

read some stats and understood it was inevitable due to very low folate content in beef muscle meat. One would have to eat a minimum of 150g of beef liver every single day, not occasionally, to get the daily norm. And that might result in copper toxicity, I guess.

You are correct. Muscle-meat-only is going to be low in folate. You'll never meet your RDA of folate this way. Liver is the concentrated source (beef liver is good but chicken liver is much higher. I wouldn't add 150g per day though, because yes, copper toxicity (and vitamin A toxicity) is a real concern.

Other folate sources that are carnivore friendly include eggs with the yolks, cheeses, milk and yogurt, fish row or caviar, and certain shellfish. I would include these in addition to some 30g-60g of liver a few times a week.

On 8/1/2026 at 1:41 AM, Vini said:

So is the lion diet really not viable long term or am I perhaps genetically incapable to somehow preserve folate while others can?

It can be viable for some people for years, but it is higher-risk and less reliably complete than broader animal-based approaches. Folate is the clearest long-term gap. However, there are individuals who live this muscle-meat only approach for years and remain stable, and most people low in folate do not develop megaloblastic anemia + high-output heart failure.

And yes, there could be a genetic component that you have that others do not (for example, people with reduced MTHFR activity already convert and utilize folate less efficiently).

The Lion Diet functions best as a strict elimination tool (weeks to months, sometimes longer) to identify triggers. Low folate on a pure muscle meat diet is a real issue that some people encounter after years. Mikhaila Peterson had to start incorporating liver after 5 years when she learned she was folate deficient. At the time, deficiency is not universal and many people are fine. There's just various potential roles at play here.

Most importantly is your health. I would be very pro-active about getting treatment if I were you.

Silly me should have read the entire thread before responding to just your initial post, @Vini

On 8/1/2026 at 8:15 PM, Vini said:

I did start eating eggs and taking folate supplement of course, although not folic acid but L-methylfolate (5-MTHF), which is a natural form not requiring any conversion, and also added long neglected beef liver. Recovery is slow, so far after a week I have almost no liquid left in my lungs, but other symptoms remain almost unchanged so far.

Having very little fluid left in the lungs after only one week is a meaningful early win! Awesome! Your eggs, liver, and 5-MTHF supplement are already at work and bringing much positive results! Choosing the active form was a smart move (synthetic folic acid requires conversion and some individuals have issues with it).

On 8/1/2026 at 8:15 PM, Vini said:

By the way, before starting L-methylfolate I could not tolerate butter, eggs and many other things. But now I tolerate them rather well, not sure why.

That is interesting. But you did say you were strict Lion for 3+ years. Your gut may have become sensitive to anything else (at first). You may also have inflammation or gut irritation as folate status improved, now your body is less stressed now that the severe deficiency is beginning to correct.

I would take this as a lesson learned and not return to a strict lion diet. I firmly believe in eating the "rainbow" of meats on a carnivore diet to make sure you are getting everything you need when it comes to nutrients.

On 8/1/2026 at 10:04 PM, Vini said:

My conclusion is do not ignore low folate for too long. Just add liver regularly (not only for folate) and take 5-MTHF - it may further improve other health aspects as well.

Excellent advice @Vini :)

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Bob!

Cheers