Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/855118
Page 22| Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysHealthAndNutrition.com example, the forma on or breakdown of proteins to make the structures that perform most of the func ons in your body. MTHFR is an enzyme necessary for a number of important chemical reac ons, as you're about to discover. What's the Fuss? MTHFR is involved in a series of chemical reac ons necessary for your body to properly use folate (vitamin B9) and, as part of a mul step chemical sequence, transforms a by-product of this process, homocysteine, which has been associated with intravascular inflamma on and most of the medical problems associated with MTHFR SNPs, into the amino acid methionine, an important building block in protein forma on and required for the forma on of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM-E), a universal methyl donor for almost 100 different substrates, including DNA, RNA, hormones, proteins, and lipids. What's a methyl donor? It's a carrier that contributes a methyl group (unroman cally, a carbon atom a ached to three hydrogen atoms), to a biological reac on in your body. Methyla on is a process whereby one molecule passes a methyl group to another molecule, a process that occurs in your body millions of mes each minute. Methyla on is responsible for gene c expression – ac va ng (turning on) and silencing (turning off) specific gene c sequences. When a gene sequence is turned on that should be off, or turned off that should be on, the consequences can be serious – for example, cells are programmed to die when they are damaged – a process called apoptosis – if the sequences in this process are altered, damaged cells may, instead of automa cally self-destruc ng as they are supposed to, con nue to replicate. Another term for excessively replica ng damaged cells? Cancer. Which is why MTHFR SNPs are associated with possible increased risk of cancer. Methyla on is also essen al for detoxifica on processes to occur properly, and is necessary for the produc on of glutathione, one of the most important natural detoxifica on agents in our body. Thus the combina on of decreased detoxifica on in our current environment with over 80,000 circula ng chemicals, few of which have been tested for human safety, presents a poten ally greater challenge and risks to the health of individuals with MTHFR SNPs, especially C677T. Further, properly func oning MTHFR is also necessary for the u liza on of vitamin B12, and MTHFR SNPs have been associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 is required for proper red blood cell forma on, neurological func on, and DNA synthesis. While there are at least 40 varia ons in the MTHFR genes, the two that at this me we know carry the most significance for human health and poten al disease are the MTHFR genes known as A1298C and C677T. Because we have one copy of each from each of our parents, we