Perhaps you’ve heard about one of the latest health buzzes when it comes to mental health – a cheeky enzyme known as MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase).

If you have a mutation in this gene then it can cause your methylation processes to work too much, too little, or not enough at all.  Methylation is essentially a process that occurs where DNA gets tagged with a ‘methyl group’ which lets the rest of the body know not to read that particular bit of DNA.  It’s also involved in the production of neurotransmitters, detoxification of chemicals, nerve health and processing of certain hormones and nutrients, to name just a few.

When the MTHFR genes work properly, you have adequate enzyme activity and that means you can more efficiently make proteins, use antioxidants, metabolize hormones, enjoy more stable brain chemistry, better eliminate toxins and heavy metals, and manage inflammation.  So if you’ve got a problem with this gene, it really can be a bugger.

How does it affect your mood?

Many people with the MTHFR gene experience mood imbalances.  This gene affects your mood in a few ways.

Reduced MTHFR enzyme means that you cannot make and recycle a very important antioxidant, glutathione effectively.  Glutathione is responsible for a vast array of activities in the body and low levels have been associated with conditions such as depression, inflammation, bipolar, chronic fatigue syndrome and autism.

If your body cannot methylate the chemical homocysteine (you can find out if this is too high via a blood test) that results in decreased production of SAMe.  This leads to decreased production of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, neurotransmitters all responsible for mood balance.

If there is a reduced ability to detoxify chemicals and heavy metals (which is a factor for those with the MTHFR gene) this can also affect your mood.  Digestive and liver health can have an indirect affect on your mental health, for several reasons such as the health of your gut flora, increased inflammation and an impact on your neurotransmitters.  Digestive health problems have been linked to mental health problems in several studies.  Click here to read more.

A lot of people with MTHFR gene also have a condition called Pyroluria (also known as Pyrolle disorder, Mauve factor, Kryptopyrrole, Kryptopyrroluria.  People with this condition produce excess amounts of a substance called Pyrolles which bind to certain nutrients such as Vitamin B6, Biotin Zinc and GLA (an essential fatty acid).  There are several conditions associated with this disorder but namely it is involved in several mental health conditions such as Bipolar, Schizophrenia, Manic depression and ADD/ADHD.  This condition is also strongly linked to the state of the digestive system.

MTHFR and Folate

One of the main issues we have come to understand with MTHFR is that people with this gene cannot process folic acid into folate effectively and so cannot handle synthetic forms of the nutrient.  This can become a bit of an issue because synthetic folic acid is in pretty much every multi-vitamin, and a lot of foods are fortified with it.  If you are consuming synthetic folic acid and you can’t process it, it clogs up a lot of the pathways that require folate and as a result a lot of health complications arise.  You can also be prone to problems relating to deficiencies of folate, such as miscarriage and neural tube defects.

Photo by Braňo on Unsplash

People with MTHFR require a special activated form of this nutrient, the type found naturally in some foods.   How much depends on the level of the gene mutations present (there’s a lot of variety that you can have) and your diet and lifestyle can have a big impact on it as well – it’s completely possible to have this gene and be symptom free and healthy if your diet and lifestyle is fine, and the gene hasn’t been ‘switched on’ (usually by stressful events).  In Australia the closest to natural folate that we have available is folinic acid (calcium folinate) supplements, however this may still be difficult to metabolise for those who have very poor methylation.

Getting tested

If you suspect that you have this gene, then you can easily get yourself tested via labs such as Healthscope, Nutripath or 23 and Me.  You may like to get this organized with a health practitioner who is knowledgeable in the realm of MTHFR, so they can guide you with treatment if needed.

Learn more: MTHFR_Related_Health_Problems

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Omega-3 solution to children’s sleep problems

Sleep problems and deficiencies of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in children are both associated with poor health, behavioural and cognitive problems.   A study by the University of Oxford suggests that increasing your child’s intake of algal DHA may improve their sleep.

In a 16-week study of 362 primary school children who also had reading problems, 40% of the children experienced sleep problems including anxiety about sleep, bedtime resistance and frequent episodes of waking during sleep. Given 600mg omega-3 daily, 43 children were monitored in sleep.

The study found that children who took omega-3 had almost an hour more sleep and suffered from fewer waking episodes per night than the children who took placebo.  Additional benefits of quality sleep for school-aged children include improved language skills, and reduced academic and behavioural problems.

Montgomery P, Burton JR, Sewell RP, et al. Fatty acids and sleep in UK children: subjective and pilot objective sleep results from the DOLAB study – a randomised controlled trial. J Sleep Res 2014 Mar 8. [Epub ahead of print]

Folinic acid and B12 for autism

Emerging evidence suggests some children with autism may experience abnormal redox and methylation metabolism. Currently it is suggested that redox imbalance and oxidative stress may contribute to the pathophysiology of autism.

American researchers have found that supplementing autistic children, who have abnormal glutathione and methylation metabolism, with vitamin B12 and folinic acid results in an improvement in behaviour and glutathione redox status.

After three months of treatment, behaviour was significantly improved with an average increase in skills of 7.7 months. The researchers found that the greater the glutathione redox status, the greater the improvement in behaviour including expressive communication, daily living skills, and coping social skills.

 Frye RE, Melnyk S, Fuchs G, et al. Effectiveness of methylcobalamin and folinic acid treatment on adaptive behavior in children with autistic disorder is related to glutathione redox status. Autism Res Treat 2013;2013:609705.

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Losing weight can be a long and frustrating process.  Some people can change their diet slightly or do a small amount of exercise and their weight just drops off.  However, some people find that no matter how much they exercise they cannot lose weight at the rate they want.

If you are struggling to lose weight with the normal methods, it may be that you have an internal barrier to weight loss.  There are several hormonal and chemical issues that can stop you from losing weight more effectively.

In the last newsletter I discussed different hormonal imbalances that can affect your ability to lose weight.  If you missed it, click here to read it: Are hormone imbalances affecting your ability to lose weight?  In this edition I will be covering some other factors that can impede your efforts as well.

Aciditiy

If the pH (acid-akaline balance) of the body is too acidic, then this can cause problems with weight loss.  Ideally our internal pH should be around 6.5 for healthy functioning.  pH can be lowered (made acidic) by drinking soft drink or eating acidic foods such as too many grains or meats, or by stress.  Your pH can be measured by a simple urine pH test.

Food intolerances

If you have an intolerance to a food and you continue to eat it, this can cause all sorts of problems in the body, due to the way it upsets the immune system, causes stress on the nervous system and increases inflammation.

Most often food intolerances cause digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, constipation, reflux, or bloating.  However food intolerances don’t always express the same way in everyone – some people may get mood swings, headaches, skin problems, immune problems, hormone imbalances, fluid retention or aches and pains as a result of eating it.

Food intolerances can be difficult to identify because they can cause symptoms up to 48 hours after eating a food, and because the problems they cause aren’t always obviously food related.

Food intolerances are usually caused by the immune system developing an antibody or immune memory to a food, when the protein of the food slips through an enlarged pore in the digestive system and is then taken up by the immune system.  The next time you eat that food, the immune system recognizes it as being something foreign, so launches an immune attack.

Eating foods which you are intolerant to will affect normal functioning in the body and can interfere with weight loss.  It can also cause bloating and fluid retention, making your feel larger than you are as well.  Most people who cut out food intolerances lose some fat mass after a few weeks.

These can be identified by an in clinic test called Food Detective via a finger prick, with the Hair500 test, by a blood test in external laboratories, or with an elimination/challenge diet.

Gut & Liver Toxicity

There are many toxins present in our environment, and some people can have difficulty detoxifying them normally.  When we are presented with more toxins than we can process and eliminate, our body will still them in our fat cells.  This presents a problem: our body has put these toxins away for a reason – it cannot cope with them, and therefore it will block weight loss until it can effectively detoxify through the gut and liver.

People with gut and liver toxicity may carry weight in a band around the bottom of their rib cage (Naturopaths refer to this as a ‘liver roll’) and they may also experience symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, bad breath, stomach upsets and a foggy mind.

Not only will toxicity cause us to store away fat, but if we have problems with our digestive processes than it makes our weight loss efforts all the more futile.  If there isn’t enough stomach acid and enzymes being produced to break down your food for easy absorption, then all the fuel we’re putting into build our muscles doesn’t get used properly.    There more muscle you have, the better your metabolism, so if you can’t make enough muscle than it makes fat burning very difficult.

 There are many factors which can contribute to this, such as stress, bacterial imbalances, medications, food intolerances and more.  The good news is that when this problem is remedied, weight loss happens much more quickly and smoothly.

The degree of digestive toxicity can be tested by a urine test known as Urinary Indicans (first morning sample only) which is performed by your naturopath.  A VLA/bio-impedance analysis can also indicate if there may be toxicity present This test is no longer available.

A good detoxification program that supports gut, kidney and liver function will allow your body to release these toxins safely.  Most people will lose a few kilos just from detoxifying, and find that weight loss can occur much more easily after the detox is finished as well.

MTHFR

If a person has a particular gene known as MTHFR, they cannot convert folate to its active form in the body folinic acid.  This causes an increase in an inflammatory chemical, homocysteine, which can cause several problems such as weight gain that is very difficult to shift, depression, heart disease, clotting problems, and blood sugar levels imbalances.

A cheek swab or blood test can be done to identify if you have this gene present.  A blood test to assess for elevated levels of homocysteine could also be done to assess the inflammatory impact of this.

Leptin

Our fat cells produce the hormone leptin which regulates our metabolism and determines how much fat will be stored. Altered levels of leptin can cause problems with food cravings, over eating, hunger and difficulty losing weight.  This can be tested by a blood test.

Poor sleep

Is a known risk factor for weight gain, can increase appetite and blood sugar metabolism problems.

Nutritional Deficiencies

Certain nutritional deficiencies can cause a reduction in metabolism and reduce your ability to burn fat, in particular Vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency can be identified by a blood test.  Your Naturopath may be able to tell you if you are showing signs of mineral or vitamin deficiencies by asking symptoms and with some simple in clinic testing.

Inflammation

People suffering from chronic or systemic inflammation may find it hard to lose weight. This is because the inflammatory process diverts energy into fat cells, causing them to thrive and grow. This can make it very difficult to lose weight! The inflammation might come from an existing health complaint, such as an injury, digestion problem, arthritis, allergies etc, or it may be related to current dietary and lifestyle sources.  There are some markers that can be measured by a blood test to assess for inflammation.  A VLA/bio-impedance analysis can also indicate if there may be inflammation present.

If you feel like you have one or more of the above issues that is affecting your ability to lose weight, make an appointment to see how we can help you. We will go through your case history and can suggest which factors may be relevant for you, and can discuss your testing options with you. Once we have identified what is happening we can create a treatment plan to naturally and safely address your internal barriers to weight loss.

The post Internal Barriers to Weight Loss – Part 2 appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.