What is MTHFR and What to do about MTHFR Mutation Symptoms

Being healthy doesn’t just entail reducing calories and working like we used to believe. There’s so much more that determines your health and wellbeing. With new scientific research emerging, and state-of-the-art research tools and technology, we can take a deeper look into what contributes to our risk of getting sick and what makes us healthy.

We’ve learned that genetics play a significant role in our health. But while our genes write a large part of our health story, they don’t have to determine it. Environmental factors and lifestyle choices can actually turn on good genes and turn off bad genes, which can alter your health outcomes.

Have you heard about the MTHFR gene? Maybe you heard the name but don’t quite know what this means for your health. Well, MTHFR stands for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, which is an enzyme. Enzymes are like little assistants that help with different tasks!

The MTHFR gene contains the DNA code (or instructions) to produce the MTHFR enzyme. This enzyme is how the folate you eat gets converted into a form that your body can actually use (5-Methyltetrahydrofolate) and how the methylation process can occur efficiently.

When you hear of people “having MTHFR”, they mean they have an MTHFR gene mutation. 

You can have either one mutation, two mutations, or none. If you have a mutation in the MTHFR gene, it will affect how much active folate you have available. If you have double mutations, you may experience more severe consequences from it, compared to if you just had one mutation. 

About 60% of the population has one or more MTHFR gene variants that impair their body’s critical methylation process.

MTHFR mutation symptoms + increased risk in adults include:

• Heart disease
• Depression & anxiety
• Brain fog
• Estrogen dominance, like heavy periods, endometriosis, and severe PMS
• Allergies, asthma, hives 
• Migraines
• Elevated liver enzymes 
• Chronic constipation or diarrhea
• Low vitamin B12 levels
• Elevated homocysteine levels
• Chronic pain and fatigue

If you have an MTHFR gene mutation, then methylation is reduced in your body by 40-70%. This is a major red flag because numerous vital bodily reactions rely on methylation to work optimally. If not, your body won’t be able to convert folate to methyl folate, recycle homocysteine (so you’ll see heightened homocysteine levels) and you won’t be able to eliminate toxins properly.

When the methylation process isn’t efficient, your body will struggle with a build-up of toxins and the related consequences, including the accumulation of heavy metals, excess hormones, and elevated homocysteine. This causes imbalances and dysfunctions within the body, causing health problems that are associated with the MTHFR gene variant.

Having an insight into your genetic makeup can be a huge benefit to longevity and how you go about living your life. Knowing your genetic makeup and finding out you have the MTHFR gene mutation doesn’t mean you should feel hopeless. 

Instead, it can make you feel empowered, knowing that you can do something about it! Epigenetics is the study of how certain genes can be turned “on” or “off” depending on environmental and lifestyle factors (like diet, stress management, toxic burden, sleep, etc.)

A simple MTHFR mutation test with your Functional Medicine provider can be a big step in creating a personalized lifestyle and treatment plan just for you. 

If you find out you have a variant (or two) you will be more motivated to implement healthy lifestyle changes into your life to avoid the consequences and symptoms of MTHFR gene mutations.
 

Best diet for MTHFR gene mutation

If you have MTHFR, foods to eat include vitamin B-rich ingredients. This could include eating more leafy green vegetables, chicken, seafood, and bananas. You can add more vitamin B12 to your diet with fish and nutritional yeast.

The important thing here is if you have MTHFR mutation symptoms, you need to increase your intake of more organic, whole foods and reduce (or better yet, eliminate) your intake of processed foods. Processed foods tend to have less nutritional value and more unhealthy fillers and ingredients.

Also, since your body has a harder time detoxing, you’ll want to avoid over-consuming high mercury-containing fish like king mackerel, marlin, shark, swordfish, ahi tuna, and bigeye tuna. Being highly sensitive to mercury could lead to mercury poisoning or symptoms of high mercury levels.

Best Supplements For MTHFR

Pre-methylated Vitamin B supplements. This can help supply your body with vital b vitamins without needing to methylate it first. This provides your body with adequate b vitamins in their active, usable form. 

AVOID folic acid, which is the synthetic version of folate. If you have the MTHFR variant, your body has a reduced ability to convert folic acid into a usable form that your body can actually use. This can lead to the build-up of the amino acid, homocysteine, which can cause issues in elevated amounts. 

Taking a premethylated folate form, like 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, has been shown to increase active folate levels in cells that have low MTHFR activity compared to a regular folic acid supplement.

Avoid environmental toxins as much as possible

Be cautious of toxic products in your home. Swap all products to non-toxic alternatives since your body has a harder time eliminating these toxins and you could be more prone to toxic burden consequences like hormone imbalances and gut microbiome damage.

Use a high-quality water filter and home air purification system to reduce toxin exposure.

Contrary to popular belief, your genetic makeup does not solely dictate your health trajectory. While genes play a role in influencing certain predispositions, they do not hold the final say in shaping your future well-being. The emerging field of epigenetics has unveiled the remarkable ability of our lifestyle choices to influence gene expression, turning the tide in our favor.

Through a combination of healthy habits, mindful choices, and environmental factors, you have the power to exert control over your health. Nurturing your body with nutritious foods, engaging in regular physical activity, managing stress effectively, and cultivating positive relationships can all contribute to positive epigenetic changes.

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