Methylation Cycle: MTHFR And The Gut

Author's Bio: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS

Hi, and welcome back to our channel.

Today we're going to talk about the methylation cycle and the MTHFR gene on gut health.

We'll talk about symptoms that you may experience or even conditions associated with MTHFR, and we'll also run through different testing of MTHFR and also looking at the role of diet if you have this particular gene, as well as things that how we can support our methylation and gut health and finishing up with supplements. That may even be really helpful if you do have the MTHFR gene.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

But before we begin and dig into this fun topic, my name is Marcie Vaske. I'm a functional licensed nutritionist with Oswald Digestive Clinic and at Oswald Digestive Clinic we see many different types of clients, but particularly relating to gut health.

And if you're interested, I'll link our website here where you can easily make an initial appointment. And I'll also link our free guide, which is five Ways to Improve your Gut Health.

So let's dig back into our topic, which is all about the

Methylation Cycle

And the methylation cycle is really a fascinating world that we're learning more and more about every day. And we are going to talk specifically how the methylation cycle does impact our gut health, and in particular the MTHFR gene.

Now throughout this methylation cycle, really at the heart of it is the MTHFR gene, which can really be very impactful in our whole body, but in particular our gut health.

What is MTHFR Gene?

The MTHFR gene does help to produce a particular enzyme to help us methylate properly. Now, if this gene is mutated and not working correctly, this can have far reaching effects, as I said, throughout your body and in particular your gut.

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So what is the impact of the Methylation Cycle and MTHFR on our Gut Health?

And as we know, the cycle is very impactful for our entire system and can have far reaching consequences. But the MTHFR gene is really the main player here. And what it does is it is responsible for producing an enzyme to help break down or convert our folate, which is vitamin B nine into methylfolate.

Now for some people, this MTHFR gene does not work correctly, and because of that there are other symptoms that they will feel and see. Now, one impactful way that the MTHFR gene impacts our gut is by messing up our gut microbiome.

Now, we talk a lot about the gut microbiome on many of our videos because of course we're a gut health clinic, but the gut microbiome really relates to the ecosystem that's inside of our intestinal tract. It's made up of trillions and billions of viruses, bacterias, and microorganisms basically that help to keep our body running smoothly.

Now, if this M gene is not working correctly or it's mutated, what happens is that because of the breakdown of our gut microbiome, it can lead to some conditions.

For example, it can lead to irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. It can also lead to different autoimmune diseases and of course it can lead to inflammation. Now, not only does that gene helped to convert our folate into usable forms of folate for our body, but it also can disrupt the absorption of our B12 and other B vitamins.

Now we know that having very good amount of B vitamins in our body is going to be very helpful for our gut health and that gut microbiome.

Symptoms and Health Conditions Associated with MTHFR Gene Mutations

And as I've talked about a lot already, is of course digestive issues. And some of those issues can be bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, and a lot of that is due to that disruption of our gut microbiome.

Inflammatory and Autoimmune Conditions

Now, in addition to some of those digestive symptoms or issues you may feel we can also have a lot of inflammatory conditions show up such as irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease, IBD, which is Crohn's or ulcerative colitis.

And in addition to more gut issues, we can also feel autoimmune disorders. And some of those can look like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's, which can really have an impact on our gut health as well.

Neurological and Cardiovascular Impacts

Mutations have also been linked to neurological disorders such as depression, anxiety, lack of cognitive focus, lack of memory, and within those conditions is also an indirect impact on our gut health. And another area that G mutation can have an impact on is our cardiovascular health, having trouble with your heart, having high blood pressure.

These of course can all be further with gut related issues or dysbiosis. Now I list all these things that could happen if you do have MTHFR gene mutation, but that doesn't necessarily mean that just because you have that you're going to experience one or any of those. But it is good to know that if you are experiencing something like that and you just can't get to the heart of the issue, maybe looking at certain mutations such as the MTHFR gene can be really helpful in you finding relief from those symptoms.

So that leads me into, well,

How do you test for an MTHFR gene mutation?

One of 'em is simply doing a blood test where they can analyze MTHFR gene and then identify any mutations. Also, you can do genetic testing in this particular test. It's a comprehensive test that will show some DNA sequencing that will show then if you have an MTHFR mutation gene. And lastly, just doing functional testing, which we'll look at the entire methylation cycle and show where there may be some issues that are flagged.

Now, of course, doing any testing, and especially with MTHFR gene testing, you want to work with a health practitioner that's well versed in this so that they can help support you in the right direction of how to eliminate symptoms and how to best support your internal body. So when it comes to how do you treat an MTHFR mutation, there's a few different things to keep in mind.

And number one is going to be just making dietary modifications, meaning that you want to be sure to get rid of package processed foods to give your gut the best ability to make a good gut microbiome. And in addition to that, you'll want to be adding in healthy proteins, healthy carbohydrates, healthy fats, because within all of those, they will give you a lot of nutrients in terms of vitamins and minerals to help keep your gut healthy as well as other processes in your body.

And another treatment would be using supplementation. And if you do have the MTHFR mutation, you are sometimes low in folate or low in B12. And so supplementing with a methylated version of a B vitamin, specifically folate and also methyl or B12, is going to be very helpful in keeping those, reducing the amount of deficiency you have and obviously keeping your body running better.

And of course, we need to always support our gut. So making sure that there's some gut healing protocols on board. Can anything from taking a probiotic to working to reduce any kind of gut symptoms you may have. You can also use prebiotics. And a lot of times just by changing your diet, you're going to find that your gut will work a lot better getting out processed packaged foods and just as I said above and making sure you're getting that whole real food diet in your life.

This way, you're going to increase vitamin and mineral deficiencies and just help your gut run better because you're also building up that microbiome.

Now, how can we use those supplements that I talked about and we'll talk about them a little bit more in depth to give yourself the best support.

Steps to Improve Your Gut Health

First Step

So first of all, always you need to change your diet. You cannot out supplement a bad diet. That is for sure. So making sure that's your first change.

Supporting Gut Healing

Then looking at supplements, and the first thing would be to find one that has methylfolate, a supplement that's going to help support the folate in your body. Will of course then help support your gut health. Also looking for a vitamin that is high or has B12, the vitamin B12. So getting adequate amounts of that vitamin B12 will also help support a good microbiome and overall wellbeing, also doing vitamin B six.

Now, vitamin B six is a co-factor in many pathways in our body. And one of the pathways or cycles that we are talking about today is the methylation cycle. B six is very important to keep that cycle running well and smoothly. And in addition to that, doing bane. Now Bane can help support the methylation cycle and also reduce homocysteine levels.

There are times when people who do have the MTHFR mutation that their homocysteine is high, and you want to be able to reduce this by increasing B12 and of course the folate in your body. And lastly, supporting your body with zinc can also be very important. Zinc will also support that MTHFR enzyme as well as supporting your gut health.

Final Thoughts on the Methylation Cycle and Gut Health

So as you've learned throughout this video today, just how important that methylation cycle is to our gut microbiome or gut health in general.

If there is a mutation of the MTHFR gene, oftentimes we see gut dysbiosis or an imbalance in our gut microbiome that leads to those various conditions and symptoms that I talked about.

So as I said earlier, if you're struggling with any kind of gut issues that you're just not really finding an answer to and it doesn't really make any sense and you've worked diligently trying to figure this out, it may be really important to work with a healthcare practitioner such as us at our clinic at Oswald Digestive Clinic to help you find that really that root cause and using dietary modifications and changes as well as even supplementation that could benefit you is going to be really important for you finding your health and wellbeing at top notch.

So I hope this will shed more light on the methylation cycle and also how that MTHFR gene does impact our gut. Please leave comments below. We're always happy to help and provide more information. And again, if you need any support, the link to our website is also linked here and you can easily make that initial appointment if you need an extra support in finding answers to your gut health. Thanks for watching today.

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