Carolyn Ledowsky, ND is one my guest experts on The Anxiety Summit 5: Gut-Brain Axis and our topic is: MTHFR, B12 Genes and Anxiety. In this interview you’ll learn:
- The mechanisms of methylation
- B12 gene variants: MTR, MTRR, TCN
- The tryptophan “steal” and a simple niacin test
- and a whole lot more!
It’s an in-depth interview that really gets into the science and mechanisms, and we start with why methylation is so important:
We need methylation to create one of the most important brain substances – phosphatidyl choline – because our brain lives on it. This is incredibly important for neurotransmitter function.
And unfortunately, this whole methylation process is not only affected by our genes but it’s hugely affected by our environment. Stress is probably one of the one of the biggest things that chews up our methyl groups.
We also talk about what the research is showing and discuss a 2018 paper titled Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and psychiatric diseases:
Increasing evidence demonstrates that MTHFR polymorphism including C677T and A1298C is associated with psychiatric diseases. The MTHFR gene polymorphism is linked to onset, clinical symptoms, prevalence as well as response to treatments.
If you have a MTHFR polymorphism and it’s expressing it’s very likely contributing to neurotransmitter imbalances and playing a role in both anxiety and depression. Methylation is also important for detox and fertility, and often plays a role in ADHD, bipolar, schizophrenia and autism.
Carolyn covers SAMe, folate and the importance of addressing low B12 first and how this ties back to the gut, low HCl (hydrochloric acid) and nutrient absorption. We cover B12 genes (MTR, MTRR, TCN) in detail, B12 testing, ideal forms of B12 supplementation based on your SNPs and more.
The connections she has found with pyroluria, oxalates, the CBS gene, glutathione, vitamin B6 and lysine is just fascinating and I look forward to really digging into the research and mechanisms in the future. This was not on our planned outline of topics to discuss but we went with it anyway and I’m so glad we did.
We end with a discussion on the tryptophan steal and niacin, and agree to differ on our use of tryptophan – she prefers 5-HTP while I typically start with tryptophan and then have my clients switch to a trial of 5-HTP if the tryptophan is not helping.
Carolyn Ledowsky is the founder of MTHFR Support Australia. She is a naturopath, herbalist and nutritionist and based on what I learned in this interview and this lovely note of appreciation I received yesterday, I know you’ll really enjoy it:
I had to write to you to to thank you for your work. I’ve bought your book and followed you for a while, but that interview with Carolyn Ledowsky was probably one of the most eye opening talks I’ve ever listened to! The way she explained all the difficulties with the MTHFR gene was a wealth of information, and you both worked together so well to really make things clear. I feel I have hope, and better understand what the problem is. Thank you again.
Getting feedback like this makes my day because we’re sharing great information and offering hope! May this inspire you to tune in and learn too.
You can listen to the entire interview by purchasing The Anxiety Summit 5: Gut-Brain Axis.
If you’d like to give feedback or ask a question, please post in the comments section. I’d love to hear from you once you’ve listened in.