So what’s all this hype about methylation? Read on to find out how your methylation capacity may impact your health…
If you’re into listening to health podcasts, you may have come across Steven Bartlett’s ‘The Diary of a CEO’ podcast, which has over 30k subscribers. In one of his recent shows he interviews Gary Brecka, a human biologist who has built a successful ‘biohacking’ company. Gary focuses much of the conversation on the importance of testing one’s methylation capacity to gain an insight into your overall health. Since his podcast, I have received an explosion of enquiries for methylation testing from people who, based on this podcast, believe that achieving optimal methylation is the panacea of health.
So what’s the hype about methylation and what does it actually do for your health?!
Methylation is an incredibly complex biochemical process that plays a ubiquitous role in the body’s maintenance. In very layman terms, it turns nutrients from the food that you eat into a type of fuel that your body uses to catalyse enzymes, which are involved in everything from mood regulation, fertility, detoxification of toxins and hormones, energy production, and vascular health.
Without enough of this fuel, you can suffer from any of the below:
Mood disorders (depression, anxiety, psychosis)
Fertility issues
PMS, menstrual irregularities, painful periods
Cardiovascular disease
Chronic fatigue
Allergies and histamine intolerances
What does your methylation capacity depend on?
Your genes may play a huge role. Many people have enzyme insufficiencies due to mutations that predispose them to slower or ‘hypo’ methylation, meaning they won’t have enough ‘fuel’ to prevent the above issues. These type of individuals may need to supplement specific types of nutrients to support their methylation, sometimes for life.
Another factor is nutrition - deficiencies in key nutrients such as folate, B12, magnesium, zinc, choline and amino acids (proteins), can slow down your methylation capacity.
Finally, increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammation can massively tax your methylation capacity.
The good thing is that the above is all fixable!
If you’re interested in having a chat about whether testing methylation might be the right way forward for you, get in touch!
I work with a fantastic methylation panel that looks at both your genetics, as well as markers related to how your genetics may be influencing your methylation capacity. Read about it here.
