Every gene in your body is a recipe for making or regulating an enzyme. And both the transcriptionist and the “cook” is the methylation cycle – its action has everything to do with functions in every cell of your body.
Arguably, methylation may be the single most important biochemical process in your body and the most important consideration when your health is in question, especially when nothing seems to help and the doctors you’ve seen just can’t seem to figure out what the problem is that‘s causing all the trouble.
It’s been estimated that methylation in a body takes place approximately 1 billion times per section and affects the function of every single cell.
Some of the symptoms of poor methylation are low energy and endurance, poor sleep, moodiness, imbalances of protein metabolism (poor strength or muscle mass, weak joints, ligaments, and tendons, low immune function), inefficient detoxification (sensitivity to foods, smells, mold, etc.), systemic inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and cardiovascular (heart) disease.
Poor resistance to infection or an overstimulated immune response from methylation imbalances may lead to inflammation, allergies (high histamine), or autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, MS, or rheumatoid arthritis.
Glutathione, the major antioxidant in your body, depends on methylation for production. It acts as an antioxidant and preserves the activity of other antioxidants and controls levels of nitric oxide, an enzyme essential to cardiovascular function, hormone regulation, and cell repair. Glutathione also breaks down environmental chemicals, including carcinogens, estrogen mimics (xenobiotics), and toxic metals (mercury’ lead, arsenic) so they can be eliminated from your body. Glutathione also helps clear toxic metals out of the body.
Because methylation controls optimal cell division and regulation and inflammation, impaired methylation has been associated with the development of many degenerative diseases (heart disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, dementia) and accelerated aging.
It is common for people to have a gene variant for the MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) gene that leads to impaired methylation (estimates are as high as 39% of the population), but there are many other genes involved in this process. Many health professionals will recommend activated/methylated forms of folate (MTHF), B6, and B12 (methylfolate) as complete support for this problem, but there are many other nutrients potentially needed to normalize methylation.
Are there lab tests to measure methylation function? There are a number of sophisticated and expensive tests. But a simple and inexpensive complete blood count can give us an effective screen for this problem through mean corpuscular volume (MCV). The conventional normal range is 80-98, but a value at 90 or greater is nearly always related to under-methylation. If the MCV is 90 or greater, blood homocysteine can be measured to further confirm an imbalance in methylation. High homocysteine (optimal 5-8) confirms methylation imbalance.
It is highly recommended to consult a doctor trained in treating this health problem if you test positive for methylation imbalance.
