MTHFR gene
The MTHFR gene (short for methylenetetrahydrofolate) provides instructions to your body to make a MTHFR enzyme that helps process folate (vitamin B9). We need folate to produce and maintain new cells - like red blood cells - and to keep nerve cells functioning properly. Not being able to convert folate well leads to high levels of homocysteine. According to National Library of Medicine, a study of the adverse effects of exessive folic acid consumption and its implications for individuals with the MTHFR gene, high homocysteine can block the production of brain chemicals like seratonin and norepinephrine (the chemicals linked to mood and depression.) There is still much research to be done, but high levels of homocysteine can lead to complications and increased risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s (according to Harvard Health Publishing article The ups and downs of folic acid fortification). This MTHFR enzyme is also critical for methylation, the body’s natural detoxification process. However, as important as the health of this gene is, as many as 50% of the population carry a mutation of this gene.
Because carriers of this gene mutation cannot convert folate well, receiving high amounts of it can wreak havoc on their health in many ways. While it is possible to be asymptomatic, some common symptoms of this gene mutation include depression, anxiety, sleeping problems, low energy, brain fog, thyroid problems, high blood pressure, fatty liver, gallbladder problems, hair falling out, tongue tie, and recurrent miscarriages.
Foods high in folate are leafy greens and fruit. But people with this gene have trouble converting dietary folate into a usable form. So folic acid became a popular way to treat folate deficiency. Folic acid is a synthetic version of folate and in 1998 the FDA required the fortification of grain products in the USA. So, to be clear, in order to make bread shelf stable, the wheat is milled and refined, stripping away the bran and germ which contain its nutrients. It is then bleached to improve its color and texture before it is ‘enriched’ by adding back in a few paltry vitamins and minerals, including a synthetic and poorly metabolized version of folic acid.
While there are tests out there to see if and what variant you have, it is largely unnecessary, as the ‘cure’ is going to improve your quality of health even if you don’t have it. Ready? Avoid processed food. Avoid folic acid-fortified food. Take methylated folate (a form of folate readily usable by the body.) Take a B-complex supplement.
So often we think the aches and pains of living we experience daily are normal and sometimes it takes a stranger coming along and pointing out, “HEY!! You don’t have to live like this!!" to get you to see the obvious. I could have lived the rest of my life without realizing I, too, am a carrier. Had I not thrown my head back one day in laughter in front of my nurse practitioner cousin, she never would have noticed my oral tori, a bony growth on my upper palate, which clued her in somehow to my health and led her to ask me a series of questions to see if I could benefit from detoxing from a lifetime of folic acid poisoning. I will be forever grateful to her for taking the time to talk to me about the MTHFR gene and what I can do about it.
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