Statistically, upwards of 50% of us has a methylation problem. Thankfully, the proper methylfolate can be taken as a supplement!
I’ve slowly figured out why I’ve had so many early miscarriages and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) all my life. I react so fast to so many things and have had respiratory arrests (stopped breathing) and headaches/migraines with aura when exposed to simple things like car exhaust, mold, crop dust, grasses and perfumes. Severe reactions to antibiotics, brain fog and the feeling of slogging thru sand had become a regular part of my life.
At 64, I am just really starting to grasp the connection to my lack of proper methylation.
When you have Lyme Disease (like I did) or an autoimmune disorder (like I did), you get to learn a whole new language when it comes to your health. I thank God He has given me a medical background and a love of researching, so I could figure this out.
Methylation Problem Linked to Long List of Conditions
You probably don’t think methylation applies to you, however, read on because knowing about methylation could save your life or vastly improve it. Your body’s cellular capability to methylate applies to innumerable foundational functions in your body such as: repairing DNA, thinking and processing information, turning on and off genes, getting rid of environmental toxins and fighting infections to name just a few.
Suzy Cohen, RPh explains it this way: “Methylation is a vital metabolic process that happens in every cell and every organ of our body a billion times per second, and is crucial to our survival and well-being. These methylation reactions manufacture things like CoQ10, melatonin, creatine, carnitine, phosphatidylcholine, and hundreds of other really important substances in the body. Methylation influences the production of ATP, which is the fundamental energy unit of the cell. If the cell can’t produce ATP, then there’s not going to be adequate energy in the body” – much like a car running out of gas.
Ability to methylate helps you process and rid both toxins and excess hormones.
Hormones are just one area (of many) affected
Take estrogen for example… you make it in your body, and you also get it from xenobiotics (estrogenic chemicals in plastics, shampoos, pesticides, etc.). If you don’t methylate estrogen correctly (a process which breaks down estrogen no longer needed by the body and allows it to become water soluble and eliminated) then you get serious hormone problems. Extra ‘bad’ estrogen floats around in the blood and the body won’t allow that to happen for very long, so it winds up being bound inside our tissue in the form of:
- Headaches with menses
- Heavy menses
- Fibrocystic Breasts (me)
- Endometriosis (me)
- Acne and unwanted hair growth
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (me)
- Uterine fibroids
- Extremely light and irregular menses (me in my infertile days)
- Insulin sensitivity (can’t lose weight)
And this is just what happens with poor methylation of one hormone – estrogen!
Each hormone or chemical the body can’t make or get rid of produces a similar list of resulting problems. (source)
Connection Between Methylation and the MTHFR Gene
Maybe you’ve suffered through multiple miscarriages. Or maybe with chronic migraine headaches, an autoimmune disease, irritable bowel syndrome or depression. Possibly your family has a history of heart attack or stroke… Perhaps your child or a sibling has autism. What do all these things have in common? Well, these are just some of the conditions linked to a faulty enzyme called MTHFR.
In 2003, the Human Genome Project (the first map of human genes) was completed. In that study, they discovered that an important gene towards our health and well-being, abbreviated MTHFR, was defective in a lot of people worldwide! Again, upwards of 50% of the population has this problem. These days, it’s possible to know what is happening in your body before health conditions develop through testing. This means that we can do something to prevent these conditions before they happen.
The MTHFR genetic mutation (think “Monday-Thursday-Friday”, hence M-TH-FR) is a fairly new buzzword and a lot is being said about it.
We usually think of genetic disorders as obvious conditions that require lifelong adaptations, but what about the less obvious genetic differences that influence not just the way we look, but the health conditions to which we are predisposed?
MTHFR is a genetic trait or mutation or snp (pron. ‘snip’) that can be identified with blood or saliva testing to see if it may be fueling conditions as diverse as the above.
Dr. Amy Yasko has now specified 5 biochemical pathways (cycles) that are intertwined in the Methylation Cycle. These pathways are ‘lined up’ in every cell of the body like in the image below.
(Source – Harvesting Nutrition and Coleen Walsh)
The MTHFR enzyme is at a critical point in the methylation cycle, right in the middle of all these gears (see graphic above). If you have the MTHFR mutation, it causes a deficiency of methylfolate in your body, and thus a deficiency of glutathione, the master antioxidant and detoxifier.
(Please feel free to skip over the next bullet points if you are overwhelmed and continue at arrow).
What a mutated MTHFR gene does to you:
- It produces a defective MTHFR enzyme i.e. it functions less than optimally, such as performing at only 40% of its capacity, or 70% of its capacity. It can mean you won’t break down toxins well i.e. you could find yourself with high iron, or high copper, or high lead, or high mercury….etc. and have trouble detoxing.
- The defective enzyme doesn’t break down folic acid into methylfolate properly, which can cause high homocysteine. (We will come back to folic acid in a moment!)
- Homocysteine is poorly converted to glutathione, which (as I mentioned above) is your body’s chief antioxidant and detoxifier. You are then even more susceptible to stress and toxin buildup.
- Also, homocysteine is poorly converted to methionine, and less methionine can raise your risk of arteriosclerosis, fatty liver degenerative disease, anemia, increased inflammation, increased free radical damage… and you produce less SAM-e.
- Less SAM-e can increase depression.
- And more notably, an MTHFR defect can increase your risk of a variety of cancers. (source)
—-> Bottom line, folate (methylfolate) is required for the creation of every cell in your body, so if it is not available, you can imagine what a significant issue it would be.
But I’m taking Folic Acid, so I shouldn’t worry, right?
Sarah at the Healthy Home Economist tells us,”Folic acid is the synthetic version of folate. It is true that most of the medical community uses the terms folate and folic acid interchangeably, but they enter the metabolic cycle in different ways, and natural folate is easier for the body to access than the cheap synthetic version folic acid (source).
When people have the MTHFR gene mutation, they do not turn folic acid into folate. In addition, the folic acid plugs the receptor sites in cells with an unusable form for these people. With the unusable folic acid in the receptor cites, the body is prevented from being able to use the folate that they do consume through natural food.
Here is an example of a good raw prenatal vitamin with natural folate instead of synthetic folic acid.
So why is Folic Acid bad?
Sarah goes on to say, “So many people are taught that taking an excess of water soluble vitamins isn’t a bad thing because they will just be excreted in the urine if they’re not needed. But in the case of folic acid in the body of a person who cannot process folic acid into usable folate, the folic acid ends up in the bloodstream where it hogs the receptor sites on cells where folate is needed.” (source)
When unusable folic acid is blocking/hogging the receptor sites where real folate is needed, a folate deficiency occurs and the following can happen:
- Neural tube defects
- Recurrent miscarriages
- Midline defects including tongue tie (read more about folate and tongue tie here)
- Neurological problems
- Anxiety (many people don’t realize they have anxiety until starting folate and having it go way down)
- Growth problems
- Thyroid problems
- Anemia and more
Avoid processed foods as these are fortified with folic acid and this causes a burden in metabolism, especially for these folks with the genetic snp.
How we are Supplementing for Improved Methylation
Thankfully, methylfolate can be taken as a supplement! If you have an MTHFR snp you may need to take a supplement. However, dosing can be tricky. Not all people will respond the same with the same supplementation, so that is where testing comes in which I discuss below.
One of our children does very well taking Metagenics Glycogenics (for methylation), selenium, magnesium and zinc. No more migraines with aura even when she eats foods with additives/chemicals (which have always caused her to react) such as ‘natural flavors‘. She needs only 1 Glycogenics per day to stay migraine free.
Our son started with 1 Methyl B Complete per day and it’s too early to know. UPDATE: our son is experiencing less fatigue, gut and skin issues after 3 weeks of 1 per day.
I take Methyl B Complete (1 per day). This is not a recommendation, only what we are doing. We are each unique, so find a functional doctor or naturopath to find your right dosage. For much more on how supplements can dramatically help, read here.
Another option to try is MegaFood Balanced B Complex.
Look for these Important Ingredients on Label:
High quality methylfolate supplements will be seen on a label as:
- 5 methyltetrahydrofolate
- 5 MTHF
- Quatrefolic
It should include more than just folate (5 methyltetrahydrofolate) and B12 (methylcobalamin) such as the ones we take above.
Should you Test your Methylation Genetics?
One option, especially if you’d like to find out about all of your genetic mutations and related nutrient needs, is to order a saliva test kit yourself online for $199 from 23andme. They will provide your “raw data” (uninterpreted) which you can then process through online programs such as Genetic Genie, Live Wello or Nutrahacker.
A better option is Max Gen Labs. They don’t save or sell your results. You get very easy to read results from them.
There is also testing through Dr. Amy Yasko and Holistic Health. It will analyze your specific DNA methylation genetics and tell you exactly which supplement(s) to take and how much. Very specific and pretty understandable. (I am not an affiliate).
We can further influence our Environment for Good
Not only do tangible factors like diet, sleep, and exercise affect your genes, so do intangibles like stress, your relationships with others, and your thoughts. We CAN influence how our genes affect us.
This is the emerging field of epigenetics, the science of how our environmental triggers influence, modify and regulate our gene activity. It can alter the way our genetic code is expressed. The genes can turn on, and they can turn off.
Genes are not necessarily our destiny, we can modify them through lifestyle changes.
Get further information here
“In every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood vessel, you see the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom.” ~C.H. Spurgeon
*For the FULL PROTOCOL (including NAC) to protect from transmission from the “V” and to help those who took the “V”, go here.
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Jennifer
So interesting! I’m going to check some of the links you recommended! Thank you!
Priscilla
This is very interesting! I’d love to hear your opinion on some supplements that I’m taking that are fully methylated. Is there a way I can contact you personally?
Jacqueline
Priscilla, I wish I could talk with everyone personally, but that is impossible with family, farming, writing the blog and just life. I am sorry. What I would suggest is that you look at the ones I listed/linked in the post that we take. The ingredients are what we do because they are pretty wide in what needs to be covered for most people. Remember, though, that you are an individual and may have different needs than us. I added them as examples of good supplements. Compare what you are taking to the ones in my links. I hope that helps 🙂
Shannon
This is a fascinating article. What are your thoughts on supplementing glutathione since it seems to be so important and compromised by this mutation?
Jacqueline
Great question, Shannon,
I would have liked to address it in the post, but space prevented it. Here is answer in a nutshell:
(1) Glutathione is a highly important antioxidant in the human body with no significant promise for a dietary supplement due to rapid digestion.
(2) Its metabolite, L-cysteine, can increase glutathione in the body but consuming L-cysteine via glutathione is inefficient and costly.
(3) Provision of L-cysteine to within the cell is all that is needed to increase glutathione synthesis, and N-Acetyl Cysteine does this more reliably and more potently at a lower financial cost than glutathione. This is the N-Acetyl Cysteine I use – 1 in AM and 1 PM: http://amzn.to/2dGB3Gg
Still folate is the most important part of the whole methylation cycle in my opinion as it facilitates other things I haven’t even touched on here. I hope that helps!
Jeannette
Thank you for this very informative post! I have saved it to re-read (as it IS a lot of information!) and will also be sharing it with some relative who may also find it helpful.
Jacqueline
Jeannette, I’m so glad it is helpful! I researched for 6 months (and lived it ) to write that, by the grace of God!
Blessings, ~J
Jeannette
I recently was told that 23 & Me does not test for MTHFR. They probably used to, as my functional medicine MD had suggested this test also.
Jacqueline
Jeannette, Yes, they used to. I do not recommend testing bc of privacy concerns. Companies can’t keep your name, date of birth, social security number, or credit card info safe. And you don’t want to give them your DNA.
Also, how shady is it that these testing companies don’t even interpret their own results? You know why? Because they aren’t widely recognized as legitimate tests.
I recommend trying different supplements until you find one that works for you and giving it a month or so as a trial period. It is much less costly than paying for testing that doesn’t tell you the supplement to take after testing.
I will email you with the Methylated B supplement most are having success with – just 1 a day.
~Jacqueline
Flicka Johnson
One of the things I am concerned about is health during very troubled times. I read your post about methylation and I have some methylation capsules. How do you know if you are under or over methylated?
I have a dear friend that can use this information. Rebecca studies natural medicines. She likes the research you do about healing naturally. She has helped me a lot. I get to see her when I travel. She is between where I live and my home state.
I do not want to give her any information that is not correct. They have an organic farm.
Please tell me where to check on methylation over or under. Thank you. I will pass the information on. I need and she needs to be prepped. Flicka
Carole
Wonderful info! I am wondering if it is safe to take the methylation suppliment if you haven’t been tested for the MTHFR gene. In other words, is it safe to take if you DON’T by chance have the MTHFR mutation?
Jacqueline
Yes, Carole, it is “safe”. It is only a Methylated Vitamin B supplement. See the ingredient list on the ones I have listed near the bottom of the post. Also, if you are not clear in this, re-read the post.
There are many testing places (most of which sell your DNA info), but I don’t know of even one who will tell you the “patch” for you. What most people do is try one of them and you will know in 2-4 weeks if you are the same or feel much better. It is an obvious difference bc you begin to detox normally… also a big part of it is deleting added folic acid (look for it in processed food, bread, cracker ingredient lists)… it hogs the receptors of the Methylfolate pathway and prevents uptake of folate (which is the natural form of folic acid) which the body recognizes as useful.
Blessings,
Jacqueline
ceecee
I have tired methylfolate at different doses and both time I got very angry and felt awful. A bit confused.
Jacqueline
Ceecee, it may be the wrong methylB for you. The strategy is not to test, bc you basically are selling your DNA to some unknown entity when you so… SO, you have to by trial and error, test different ones until you find what works for you. It sounds laborious, but I still haven’t found a doctor or group that does the genetics (like 23 and Me) and then tells you exactly what supplement to take. We can do that ourselves. It will take 2-3 weeks to know if something is working to patch your methylfolate pathway. If it doens’t work, move on to another one. In my post I list some that worked for US, but they may not work for you!
Also, become a label reader and avoid ones with bad ingredients.
I hope that helps~ Jacque
Kay
I was tested back in ’16, I have both MTHFR genes, homozygous. Nothing was done about it. Before that I had a bad reaction to Flagyl, panic attacks, anxiety, heart arrhythmias, paresthesia, POTS, dysautotomia. The paresthesia and POTS eventually faded away but I still had the other issues. Only one doctor acknowledged it was the Flagyl, the others kept blaming things like thyroid, which was normal, and other things. They sent me to functional medicine but they wouldn’t even acknowledge the Flagyl. However, they did a lot of testing and nothing ever came of the results of the MTHFR and I didn’t understand it. Before this Flagyl incident, which really set things in, I had tried a Pepcid Complete from someone which gave me a panic attack, totally unexpected. I did get over it, but later I was put on it again, and it did weird things to me so I stopped it. But that’s how I ended up with a small bowel infection in the ER and on Flagyl. I’ve had reactions to other things, too, but the doctors don’t seem to know much about any of reactions to medications. I have suffered from GERD and indigestion because of a hiatal hernia that came about from pregnancy. I really want to get the hernia addressed. I avoid caffeine and other things.
Before the Flagyl, I went to a hepatologist to find out I have NAFLD. My mother died of it in ’11, and my brother in ’15, although he was a wine drinker. I also have high lipids and low Vitamin D. My D levels are up to 57 now. I don’t eat much but I figured something is wrong with my system. With your mention of the fatty liver here, I am suspicious it has to do with MTHFR, especially since it’s homozygous. I weigh more than my mother did, who was a health nut, too, who wasn’t really overweight by much, my BMI is 28-29. I know a medication put her into NASH, then later the cirrhosis started. When she fell and broke her hip at a grocery store, everything that happened thereafter just finished off the liver. Her enzymes never really elevated until toward the end, but it’s the fibrosis. I’ve been trying to be careful in checking all supplements I’m taking against liver fibrosis because my last fibroscan showed I am entering NASH. I have to decrease the inflammation.
I am on NAC, but I do have a question about it. I have heard one should take breaks from it because it can affect one’s T-cells in combating the start of cancers and other things. Also read somewhere that in taking it with Vitamin C, it can become a pro-oxidation. So I take it early and then two hours later the Vitamin C with other things that go well with C, all on an empty stomach. Speaking of C, I discovered one should not take C with B12.
The supplements and figuring out when to take them, with or without food, has been a big endeavor. Only recently found out you shouldn’t take CoQ10 with fish oil, too.
I only recently started addressing the MTHFR myself, coming across things in seeking out supplements against Covid and other health issues. I started taking chelated magnesium bisglycinate and glycine, which I saw was recommended by the functional medicine doctor. The unprovoked anxiety has died down and I think the arrhythmias.
I came across Life Extension Homocysteine Resist supplement. Someone on it mentioned good for MTHFR. I was taking a regular B12 supplement but was looking for a B complex without the Niacin, due to the liver. So, I have started that and was linked to your blog by someone on another website. This MTHFR is very interesting and probably more significant than what I thought.
I saw Life Extension also has a separate TMG that is in your supplement. But Life Extension has 100 mg of the B6 versus the Methyl B has 15 mg of B6. I don’t know if that makes a difference. Otherwise, they are very similar except for the separate TMG.
My regular doctor hasn’t helped me with any of this, just wanted to put me on B12, “because everyone is low”. I don’t know if I need to take a thiamine either, I have long Covid as well. It’s been a mess again. I have also had anemia, took the best type of iron I could and it’s all normal except %saturation is 10%, and I don’t know what that means either for my system. I had problems with my monthly going berserk last spring, I am suspicious it is related to being around Covid vaccinated people, a lot of weird things happened then, too, dizziness, return of POTS for a while. I was found not to be in menopause but now, since the long Covid, it has stopped. I don’t know if the spike protein has killed it off. I was going to get an ablation but right after acute Covid, I had post Covid issues and had to cancel.
I started to see a Naturopath before the Covid and have not been back. But she tried to recommend a multi-vitamin, which I don’t think would work well considering what works together, with or without food, etc. as I related and then a supplement that had green tea and berberine, which I see both as a no-no with liver disease.
Before we all got presumably Delta in December, I had an EGD, which showed a surface duodenal ulcer and she found food in my stomach, and I was fasting since 9 pm the night before. Maybe this is why I am full for a long time when I eat. They want me on proton pump inhibitor. I do not want to take it. I don’t know if I’ll have panic but last time I took an antacid, I ended up in the ER with the small bowel infection. I also have a 74% increase of C-diff. Last thing I need is to take Flagyl or a fluoroquinolone. So I am trying a Life Extension “Gastro ease” although it was negative for H pylori and mastic gum. Also found a CoQ10 that has d-Limonene, which might help move food through the stomach. I don’t know if any of this is also related to the MTHFR gene. I have also refused statins, although they are hard on the liver, but the docs still want to push them. Now my doctor is saying I’m not following medical advice. Even the hepatologist put me down in his notes with my “unproven” supplementations, although he didn’t think the ulcer was remarkable enough to do anything about it. I had asked him about milk thistle and he poo-pooed it. My mother was on it and her hepatologist said it was a good thing. I have some dandelion root supplement I had gotten but not started, but read somewhere it was good against Covid.
It’s all confusing and I wonder what you think about MTHFR and all the health issues I’ve had. Luckily, I am not diabetic, and neither was anyone in my immediate family. Also about the Vitamin B6, what is the optimal supplement dosage. Also, read the TMG regular dosage is 1000 mg, up to three times a day. I don’t know about that, I’d want to start slow.
Also, my rheumatoid factor is 20 and I’ve had TMJ that the dentist said via tomograph was arthritis related and now a pain in my left hand, that I don’t know is arthritis and if the Covid has done something. It was tested those years ago but I had no symptoms then and the doctor reading it claimed it was a false positive.
My doctor did do labs on the MTHFR last October, Folate 8.5 normal, homocysteine 10.05, B6 33.4, methylmalonic acid 113, B2 256,
Sorry this is so long, hoping for some insight.
Thank you.
Jacqueline
Hi, Kay, I may just email you as there and try to summarize. Just sent… ~Jacque