MTHFR

MTHFR, Depression and Anxiety with Carolyn Ledowsky

December 21, 2015 By Trudy Scott 21 Comments

The Healthy ME Summit: Overcoming Depression and Anxiety runs Jan 7-17, 2016. Here are some snippets from the excellent interview with Carolyn Ledowsky, Naturopath, Herbalist, Nutritionist: MTHFR, Depression & Anxiety.

MTHFR is a gene that helps the conversion of folate to the active form. When you eat leafy greens the body goes through many metabolic processes to change the folate to an active folate and this active folate is what we call a methyl group.

It’s this methyl group that acts as a master switch in really important processes in our body… it helps detoxify chemicals and heavy metals, and really importantly it helps us make glutathione (our major antioxidant that protects us from free radical damage), it helps to process hormones and it’s really important in the stress response.

Stress uses up a lot of our methyl groups and some people use up all their methyl groups when they are really stressed. They can turn the stress response on but then they don’t have enough to turn it off so they stay in this hyper-stress state.

If you have a lack of methyfolate or methyl groups then you don’t have enough components to generate neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

I would say 80% of people with MTHFR who come to our clinic would experience anxiety or depression and for some of them it’s had a huge impact on their lives and they just can’t function.

Carolyn shares some of the early research on folate and depression, psychosis and schizophrenia; how SAMe is the distributor of all these really important methyl groups to every part of the body; the importance of vitamin B12, zinc, vitamin B6 and how elevated homocysteine is neurotoxic and has a massive impact on mood; how the mutations in the COMT gene can make you less able to tolerate methylfolate; why a vegan or vegetarian diet can be a big factor with anxiety and depression.

She also covers pyroluria (and low zinc and low vitamin B6) as well as high copper and infections:

You can actually get a copper toxicity depression (even without pyroluria). You can have high copper with estrogen dominance, low iron, low molybdenum and one of the key strategies is to balance copper and zinc (and look at why zinc is low to start with)

Strep infections can increase excitatory receptor activity, decreasing GABA levels and impairing speech in kids with autism

It’s a really excellent interview and not to be missed!

Here are more details about the Healthy ME Summit: Overcoming Depression and Anxiety, January 7-17, 2016.

You will discover 50 of the brightest and most brilliant minds in the field of mental health and wellness. The interviews are a collection of experts, as well as individuals sharing their inspirational personal experiences. The culmination of both of these points of view provides you the listener with the answers and solutions to your mental health challenges.

Here are a few of the other excellent speakers and topics:

Nicole Bijlsma, Author, Naturopath, Acupuncturist: Mould The New Asbestos [this is the Australian spelling of mold]
Therese Kerr, Author, Speaker, Health Ambassador: Chemicals in Cosmetics to Avoid
Amy Myers, MD, Author: The Autoimmune Solution for Mental Health
Reed Davis, Functional Nutritionist: Addressing Metabolic Chaos

I’m thrilled to be included in this line-up of experts and I’ll be sharing Nutritional Solutions for Anxiety – and will cover the amino acids GABA and tryptophan, and the social anxiety condition pyroluria.

Hope you can join us! You can learn more and register here:
http://overcomingdepressionandanxiety.com/infuisonsoft.php?p=TrudyScott&w=hme

Pyroluria/social anxiety protocol: why aren’t I getting results? (trouble-shooting checklist)

May 16, 2015 By Trudy Scott 118 Comments

How do you trouble-shoot when you score high on the Pyroluria Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution or even have a positive pyroluria urine test but you don’t seem to be getting the results you expect?

You still have social anxiety, that inner tension that you push through and deal with, and likely still feel uncomfortable when in large groups. You force yourself to put on the confident brave face. You may wish you could be more like your extrovert friends and actual enjoy socializing and speaking in public/on stage – without the fear and anxiety. You may still not be a big breakfast eater and have morning nausea. You may not yet be having pleasant dreams that you always remember.

(If pyroluria is new to you here is the Pyroluria Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution and here is a nice summary – Pyroluria, social anxiety, introversion: a summary )

This checklist is a starting point to try and figure out what may be the issue. These are the questions I work through with someone who is working with me one-on-one.

I discussed 21 of these in my interview on season 3 of the Anxiety Summit: Pyroluria, Amino Acids and Anxiety: Troubleshooting when you are not getting results

As you heard during the interview, I added MTHFR and I’ve even added a few more since then. I expect this list to continue to grow.

What form of zinc are you taking and is it free from copper? My favorite is Optizinc (zinc monomethionine) as it’s typically well-absorbed
Have you made sure that there is no copper in your multivitamin or other supplements? (this completes with zinc)
Have you been taking evening primrose oil and if yes, how much? (this enhances zinc absorption)
Did you test your fatty acid levels? What are the results? Did it show a need for GLA (I like evening primrose oil rather than borage oil) and no need for omega-3s (pyrolurics typically don’t need to supplement with omega-3s like fish oil)
What is your alkaline phosphatase (a blood test)? Less than 70 may indicate a need for zinc
Have you done the zinc tally/challenge with zinc sulfate and does it taste like water or does it taste really bad? If you zinc levels are good it should taste really bad
Did you test copper and ceruloplasmin, and if yes, what were the results?
Did you do the pyroluria urine test? What are the results?
What’s your score on the pyroluria questionnaire ? And which symptoms do you have?
What is your score on the introversion questionnaire?
What were your dreams like before starting the protocol and now? How high did you go on the vitamin B6? Did you switch to P5P and/or use a combination of both if needed?
On a scale of 1-10, what was your social anxiety before and now (10 is worst)
What is your stomach acid like? And have you trialed HCl supplements? Tested total protein (in blood)
Do you eat grass-fed red meat (a good source of zinc, iron and omega-3s)?
Do you eat sugar? Refined sugar and processed foods? Or even “healthy” sweeteners such as honey in large quantities? (sugar depletes zinc)
Do you eat large quantities of nuts or bake with nut flours? (the copper in the nuts may be affecting your zinc levels)
Do you have a copper IUD, copper pipes, copper pots? (this may also affect your zinc levels, keeping them low)
Have you done a hair analysis and found high copper or high hidden copper? (this may also affect your zinc levels, keeping them low)
How much and how often do you exercise? What about bikram/hot yoga? (sweating depletes us of zinc)
Have you used any of the amino acids? And seen good results? (this could be a clue that zinc and vitamin B6 are low since they are cofactors for making neurotransmitters such as serotonin, GABA, dopamine)
Do you eat gluten and have a gluten sensitivity? If yes, have you healed your gut? If not, you may have malabsorption issues
Are you completely grain-free? (this may be impacting your vitamin B6 levels)
Do you have amalgams/silver fillings? Did you have them removed and did a mercury detox? Were you tested for heavy metals? (zinc absorption can be blocked by heavy metals – we talked about this in season 2)
Do you have the MTHFR polymorphism? It’s common with pyroluria and this may mean you need higher amounts of the supplements
Do you have high histamine/hisadelia or low histamine/histapenia? Pyrolurics often have one or the other
Are you taking benzodiazapines or have recently quit benzodiazapines? Your unresolved anxiety may be due to this fact (we talked about this in season 1)
Do you have parasites, candida, dysbiosis, SIBO or other digestive issues? These can be considered stresses and pyroluria symptoms are worse under stress. Digestive issues also impact absorption
Do you have Lyme disease or another infection? These can be considered stresses and pyroluria symptoms are worse under stress. The immune system also uses up zinc.
Do you have food sensitivities? This may contribute to malabsorption. This can also be considered a stress and pyroluria symptoms are worse under stress
Do you have problems with histamine-containing foods? This can be considered a stress and pyroluria symptoms are worse under stress. Also, vitamin B6 is a co-factor needed for the DAO enzyme, which is responsible for the degradation of histamine.
Do you have issues with oxalates? This can be considered a stress and pyroluria symptoms are worse under stress. Oxalates can also bind to minerals and lower the levels. For some folks vitamin B6 helps with oxalate issues so the need may be higher.
Have you been/are you exposed to mold and other toxins? These can be considered stresses and pyroluria symptoms are worse under stress. The immune system also uses up zinc.
Do you have low oxytocin levels? Do you have a genetic variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). Oxytocin has been implicated in anxiety, depression and related stress phenotypes
Is your life super-stressful or have you suffered from a recent trauma (or have old unresolved trauma)? Stress and trauma makes pyroluria worse
Do you have adrenal issues? We need good adrenal function for optimal digestion, being able to handle stress and being able to fight off infections/avoid getting parasites and dysbiosis
Do you have hormonal issues – PMS, perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms? The pyroluria protocol helps and this could be a clue that something is off
Are you on the birth control pill or have used one in the past? Oral contraceptives cause low vitamin B6 and zinc, reduce serotonin levels and increase anxiety.
Are you on any other prescription medications? Many medications deplete B vitamins and zinc.
Do you have vagus nerve issues? Good vagus nerve function is key for digestion, immunity, inflammation, neurotransmitter production and so much more. Also, forcing yourself to socialize when you have pyroluria is stressful and impacts the vagus nerve
Do you have inflammation and/or immunity issues? Vitamin B6 plays a role in reducing inflammation and immune modulation

[August 2021: the above list was updated extensively]

This list is NOT exhaustive and it’s NOT in my book The Antianxiety Food Solution because I gathered this information after the book was published. However, the pyroluria questionnaire, detailed protocol and testing information is in the book. There is an entire chapter on pyroluria.

Keep in mind that most folks do the pyroluria questionnaire, start on the recommended protocol of zinc, vitamin B6 and a copper-free multi and start to see improvements in a week. These can be dramatic improvements for many folks. And many folks see decent improvements in a few weeks and tweak things over the next few weeks before landing on the ideal doses.

This blog is for you if this doesn’t happen.

Did you miss this interview or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? You can purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen/read when it suits you. You can find your purchasing options here: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, and Anxiety Summit Season 3.

Feel free to share your results in the blog comments and what you figured may be the issue/s for you.

If you tweak something and it helped do let us know too. That way we all help each other.

And feel free to ask questions in the comments too.

Methylation and anxiety: histadelia and histapenia

May 13, 2015 By Trudy Scott 64 Comments

In preparing for the Anxiety Summit I put out a call for questions for my methylfolate interview with Dr. Ben Lynch: How Methylfolate can make you Feel Worse and even Cause Anxiety, and What to do about it This question was posted on my blog and since it’s a big topic I feel it deserves a separate blog post

This is the question that Paula posted:

If my understanding is correct, William Walsh of the Walsh Research Institute explains that folates of any kind (methylfolate, folic acid, etc) will cause there to be less serotonin activity at the synapse because folates promote the expression of the SERT enzyme which increases serotonin reuptake. He warns that those who are undermethylators should not take folate if they have cognitive/mood issues, as it will make their anxiety or depression worse. Since those with the MTHFR gene defect are likely undermethylators, his advice contradicts Dr Lynch’s advice regarding the use of folate. Could you ask Dr Lynch if he has any opinion regarding this?

Dr. Walsh has treated over 30,000 patients with mental health problems and has one of the largest lab chemistry data bases in the world. It would be great to see the top doctors collaborating on the methylation cycle as it seems to be a large piece of the puzzle for so many people. Maybe a methylation summit? It’s such a complicated and confusing subject and there seems to be some contradictory information out there.

This was my response:

These are excellent questions you bring up!

The terminology can be confusing so I will recap my understanding here:

Undermethylators/high histamine/histadelia = folate not good
Overmethylators or low folate/low histamine/histapenia = folate helps symptoms

This is from the work of Carl Pfeiffer (his book “Nutrition and Mental Illness” is excellent) and is also written about in Joan Matthews Larson’s wonderful book “Depression-Free Naturally” and Eva Edelman’s “Natural Healing for Schizophrenia.”

As you’re aware Dr. Walsh uses this terminology too. His book is “Nutrient Power.” Here is a snippet from a powerpoint of his called The Role of Epigenetics in Mental Health

Undermethylated mental patients are intolerant to folic acid, but most overmethylated mental patients improve after folic acid supplements.

Folic Acid generates acetylase enzymes that alter histones, promoting expression of SERT and DAT transporter proteins. SERT and DAT enhance reuptake at serotonin and dopamine synapses…. thus reducing NT activity.

For undermethylators, the harmful impact of folic acid at NT synapses greatly exceeds the benefits of normalizing methylation.

So there is a place for methylfolate. I don’t know anything about SERT and DAT transporter proteins so can’t comment on that aspect, but look forward to learning more.

You say “Since those with the MTHFR gene defect are likely undermethylators.” I don’t know that this is a true statement. I would love to see a source for this? It’s certainly not the case with me – I have the MTHFR 1298C defect and have low histamine/histapenia/overmethylation (using the Carl Pfeiffer terminology).

As far as I’m aware Dr Walsh does NOT feel the MTHFR defects play a role in all of this. I hope to learn more and interview him on a future Anxiety Summit.

I have not seen Dr. Lynch write about histapenia and histadelia or the work of Carl Pfeiffer, although some recent comments in this blog refer to Walsh and Dr. Lynch says he’ll check it out.

Dr. Lynch is not a big fan of the terms overmethylation and undermethylation. And when he talks about overmethylation and undermethylation I think he is referring to the methylation process being more effective/speeding up and being less effective/slowing down within a few days of adding methylfolate supplements.

So I feel we have some terminology differences AND some differences of opinions.

Both Dr. Walsh and Dr. Lynch see amazing results with their patients/clients but I agree with you – I’d love to clear up some of the confusion. I’m going send this question and my answer to Dr. Lynch for our interview next Friday. Since he may need to do some additional prep/research, we may have to do a deeper dive into this question on a future summit. Hopefully he’ll be able to add something to the discussion this time.

I did also interview Yamsina (www.thelowhistaminechef.com) for this summit and she too was not familiar with the work of Carl Pfeiffer so it’s exciting that we can all learn from each other and advance the field.

Finally, this is not all bad because it gets us thinking and asking questions and digging deeper.

Paula then has this follow-up question:

The following quote from this link gave me the impression that the MTHFR mutation usually caused undermethylation, but farther down it also references where Dr Walsh says it’s possible to have MTHFR and not be undermethylated.

In your opinion, do people fall into either an overmethylated or undermethylated status or can you be an undermethylator in certain areas of the methylation cycle and an overmethylator in other areas of the cycle? If someone has some traits of an undermethylator and some traits of an overmethylator, what would you recommend?

Dr. Walsh: Based on my massive chemistry database, about 22% of the population is undermethylated and 8% overmethylated. These are inborn tendencies that usually persist throughout life. Undermethylation usually results from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that weaken MTHFR or other enzymes in the methylation cycle. Overmethylation is generally caused by enzyme weaknesses (SNPs) in the SAMe utilization pathways.

What are your thoughts on using genetic testing, such as “23 and Me” to create an individual methylation roadmap/treatment plan.

Dr. Walsh: Genetic testing is quite inexpensive, highly accurate, reliable, and will certainly grow in importance in future years. These tests can already identify predispositions for many disorders such as breast cancer and Alzheimer’s and may soon obsolete the need for pap smears. However the reliability of genetic testing for assessing methylation is quite limited at present.

Identifying SNP weaknesses in MTHFR and other methylation-cycle enzymes does not necessarily mean that individual is undermethylated. There is a “tug-of-war” competition between enzyme SNPs that weaken methylation and SNPs in the SAMe utilization pathway that can produce overmethylation.

I believe you’re right Trudy in saying this is not all bad because it gets everyone thinking and digging deeper. I think both Dr Lynch and Dr Walsh bring invaluable information to the discussion, each adding something that can further illuminate how this complicated process works. Thanks again to you for providing us an opportunity to ask questions.

And this is my response:

This is a perfect summary of Dr Walsh’s approach – thank you!

This part is interesting: “Undermethylation usually results from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that weaken MTHFR or other enzymes in the methylation cycle. Overmethylation is generally caused by enzyme weaknesses (SNPs) in the SAMe utilization pathways.” I’d love to know which ones… and then he says “However the reliability of genetic testing for assessing methylation is quite limited at present”

His percentages are also interesting and I would challenge this saying it’s very likely based on the people he has worked with: 22% of the population is undermethylated (high histamine) and 8% overmethylated (low histamine).

When I worked with Julia Ross we saw way more low histamine and that is likely because we worked with more women who seem to be prone to low histamine.

This is also what Carl Pfeiffer found: “These are inborn tendencies that usually persist throughout life” and was my understanding until I started learning from Dr Lynch 2 years ago. Now I’m confused too!

Here is a nice post by Chris Kresser: Methylation – What it is and why should you care. I’m going to paraphrase some of it. He says yes do the 23and me testing but: “genetics do not always predict functional methylation capacity”…”I really believe that we need to be testing both”… “There are different ways to test functional methylation capacity. Doctor’s Data has a methylation panel blood test. Health Diagnostics and Research Institute has a Methylation Pathways Panel that’s good and I tend to use in my practice. Genova has a Complete Hormones profile that, among other things, looks at the ability to convert proliferative estrogen metabolites into less proliferative metabolites, and those conversions are methylation dependent. So if you see poor conversion happening there, that’s a methylation issue. The urine organics acids profile from Genova has some methylation markers, active folate and B12 deficiency. And then a urine amino acids profile can be helpful to look at taurine levels and levels of other metabolites in the methylation cycle.”

This above blog has comments about Dr. Walsh and Dr. Lynch too so they are worth a read.

Of course Dr. Lynch supports the fact that just because you have a defect it doesn’t mean you are affected by it so the additional functional testing makes total sense. And he recommends this additional testing too.

I feel it’s time to mesh the old research and prior work Carl Pfeiffer did, the work Dr. Walsh is doing, Dr. Lynch’s work and the new methylation research. And the wisdom from other practitioners like Chris Kresser and people like you who are digging and reading and asking questions

We clearly all have lots to learn! I know I don’t have the answers! This topic has been front and center in my mind for awhile so it’s good to get it down in writing here (so thanks Paula, for asking this question!)

I encourage you to listen in to my interview with Dr. Lynch. We talk about this and acknowledge that we all have gaps and that getting together to talk about all this would be an excellent idea!

And finally, please share if you have had your histamine levels tested (whole blood histamine)? Low or high? and have you found results with the Pfeiffer protocol?

I have tested mine and have low histamine/histapenia and absolutely do benefit from the low histamine protocol.

The Anxiety Summit – How Methylfolate can make you Feel Worse and even Cause Anxiety, and What to do about it

May 12, 2015 By Trudy Scott 176 Comments

Dr. Benjamin Lynch ND, MTHFR and methylation expert, is interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

How Methylfolate can make you Feel Worse and even Cause Anxiety, and What to do about it

Methylfolate and the MTHFR polymorphism
Anxiety and other side effects of too much methylfolate
How to prevent methylfolate side-effects
How to determine how much methylfolate to take

Here are some snippets from our interview (Dr Lynch actually closed with these wise words) :

Just because you have MTHFR doesn’t mean you’re screwed!

Don’t look at MTHFR as a bad thing

It just means you have to do things differently

Be proactive and don’t be scared about it

At the start of our interview he said this:

Anxiety can be relieved by methylfolate but it can also be made worse

Here are some snippets from Dr. Lynch’s excellent article: Methylfolate Side Effects

Methylfolate is a remarkable nutrient yet it can create significant side effects.

Those who have MTHFR mutations (especially the C677T MTHFR mutation) learn that methylfolate is critical to take. The issue is methylfolate can cause more harm than good if not started at the right time or tapered up slowly in amount.

There appear to be three types of responses to methylfolate:

FIRST: A person who can jump on methylfolate and feel absolutely wonderful. The only down side they experience is why didn’t they know about methylfolate before?!

SECOND: A person starts methylfolate has an amazingly incredible week where they are happy, interacting and alert. Then the second week comes and they switch to wanting to hide in a room by themselves or literally throw dishes across the room out of anger. Or they may become bed ridden from muscle aches, intense headaches or joint pain.

THIRD: A person takes a small amount of methylfolate and feels all the methylfolate side effects right out the gate.

The above blog also lists the Methylfolate Side Effects:

irritability
insomnia
sore muscles
achy joints
acne
rash
severe anxiety
palpitations
nausea
headaches
migraines

I encourage you to read the whole blog that Dr Lynch has written (Methylfolate Side Effects)

And here is the related blog on Preventing Methylfolate Side Effects. I’ve included some snippets here but please read the whole article too

ALREADY TAKING METHYLFOLATE AND FEEL GREAT?

Excellent! However, it may be a ‘honeymoon’ period and in a few days or weeks, side effects may appear.

Discuss this article with your doctor and make appropriate changes to your protocol.

Just think of a bell-shaped curve.

Before you started taking methylfolate, you felt terrible. You began taking it and started to feel good. Day after day goes by and you continue to improve. In time if the above things are not corrected, you will begin to slide down the other side of the bell-shaped curve.

My whole point of this article is to prevent this from happening!

My goal is to keep you feel amazing!

I’ve seen it happen way too much – caused by me, caused by other doctors and caused by over-excited people feeling amazing and pushing their system too hard with methylfolate. Methylfolate is powerful.

This last statement by Dr. Lynch is why I invited him to speak on this summit on this topic!

This is the Dr. Carl Pfeiffer and Dr Bill Walsh histapenia/histadelia blog post that I referred to in our discussion. You can either read the discussion in the comments or read this new blog post I created: Methylation and anxiety: histadelia and histapenia.

Here is information about the first annual Seeking Health Educational Institute Conference, SHEI Con 15 (an event for health professionals).

Dr Lynch and a team of world-renowned physicians will be presenting absolutely new clinically-relevant information that has never been seen before ANYWHERE.

The main topics of SHEI Con 15 are centered around where physicians must look to recover their patient’s heath at the core.

Mitochondria: Function, Dysfunction, Connections to Pathologies, Identification and Restoration

Cell Membranes: Function, Dysfunction, Connections to Pathologies, Identification and Restoration

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here: www.theAnxietySummit.com

Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.

You can find your purchasing options here: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, and Anxiety Summit Season 3.

MTHFR and methylation: mood, anxiety, depression, and resources

March 6, 2015 By Trudy Scott 27 Comments

Methylation polymorphisms (also called defects or mutations or SNPs) can impact mood. I’d like to share a few studies on some of the mood issues, other health conditions where we may see impacts and some resources for you to learn more.

If you have one of the MTHFR polymorphisms, the BH4 cycle may be affected and may impact how we make serotonin and dopamine. Here is some of the research:

There is much evidence on the methylation polymorphisms and these health conditions:

Resources for further learning

The two practitioners who I have learned the most from are Dr. Ben Lynch ND and Coleen Walsh, a nutritionist who has been dubbed the “methyl queen”.

Ben Lynch ND: his website http://mthfr.net/ and blog articles provide a wealth of information and he is very active on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/drbenjaminlynch). I did his excellent 2 day professional training which he has available on this site. I also interviewed him on The Anxiety Summit and we talked about GAD, MOAO and COMT polymorphisms

Coleen Walsh, nutritionist, “methyl queen” offers a professional MTHFR and Methylation training for practitioners and a MTHFR workshop for the layperson and every day mutant. I highly recommend both of these.

Just remember this great quote from Coleen Walsh during our interview on the Anxiety Summit:

Our DNA is not set in stone! Diet and lifestyle can go a long way to change our health destiny

The good news is that we can change our health, our disease outcomes and how we feel by eating real whole good quality organic food, getting chemicals and toxins out of our diets and environment, reducing stress, supporting the liver and our natural detox processes.

Certain key nutrients can also be very help for many people with polymorphisms. I’ll share more on folate and other nutrients and other SNPs in a later blog post. I’ll also share more on genetic testing.

I’d love to hear if you’ve done genetic testing and how making changes (supplement, diet, lifestyle) have helped. Be sure to post questions too.

MTHFR and Methylation practitioner training by Coleen Walsh

February 23, 2015 By Trudy Scott 25 Comments

Confused about Methylation and MTHFR?

MTHFR is one hot topic and many clients are getting their MTHFR results, but do not know what to do.

Methylation cycle abnormalities can predispose you to disease. The MTHFR SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) is at a key position in the methylation cycle and if not working properly, can affect the whole pathway, creating symptoms and disease, including mood issues like anxiety and depression. The good news is that nutritional protocols and lifestyle modifications can help tremendously.

Online Practitioner Training

My friend and colleague, Coleen Walsh, dubbed the “methyl queen” is doing an online Practitioner Training (for Nutritionists and Healthcare Practitioners) on MTHFR and Methylation on February 28, 2015 from 10am MST – 3pm MST, so you may get a better understanding of Methylation Pathways and how to better help your clients with these SNPs

This 5-hour presentation breaks down the biochemistry of these pathways, and discusses epigenetics and holistic protocols to give you a solid understanding of the subject.

Plus, when you purchase the event, you also will receive the recordings and 3 hours of bonus material! If you can’t make it at this day/time, you can still register and will get the materials a few days after the event.

A Bit About Coleen:

Coleen Walsh is a holistic and functional nutritionist that specializes in MTHFR and Methylation education and one on one client consultations. She is author of the forthcoming book, “Thriving with MTHFR: A guide for the everyday mutant!”, dubbed the “Methyl Queen” by colleagues and winner of the 2014 NANP Impact Award based on her research & education on MTHFR & Methylation. She trains and consults MDs, NDs, L.ACs, DOs and Nutritionists all over the United States and in Japan on the topic of MTHFR and Methylation and has completed hundreds of hours of additional research and education on these pathways. Coleen suffered from many degenerative and autoimmune diseases and helped heal herself after finding out about her MTHFR status, her passion is to educate and help support others along their journey towards health.

coleen info

We met at the NANP/National Association of Nutrition Professionals conference last year and hit it off right away. I was so impressed with the work she was doing that I invited her to speak on season 1 of the Anxiety Summit.

methylation pathways

MTHFR interview from the Anxiety Summit – for your listening pleasure

I’d like to share that interview with you here, so you can get a taste of her level of expertise and for what she will be offering in the training. It’s yours to listen to whether or not you can attend the training and whether or not you’re a practitioner. Enjoy!

Are Your Genes Depressing You? MTHFR and Your Mood: Trudy Scott interviews Coleen Walsh on The Anxiety Summit

The Methylation Cycle overview, MTHFR and B vitamins as cofactors
How MTHFR effects the BH4 cycle and serotonin and dopamine
Factors that disturb methylation, how to test and what to do
Epigenetics and how SNPs are not our destiny

Listen to the recording here:

Learn more and purchase

Here is the link to read more about Coleen’s online MTHFR/methylation practitioner training on February 28th and to make your purchase:

http://www.easywebautomation.com/app/?Clk=5393326

Hope to “see” you there – I plan on attending this new training too!

PS. If you do purchase Coleen’s training do let us know by sending a copy of your receipt to support [at] everywomanover29.com and we’ll send you a copy of the transcript of the above audio interview as a nice little added bonus to help solidify your learning!

PPS. Coleen will also be giving a 3 hour training for the general public on March 7th, starting at noon MST. This event will break down the science even more, so that even an “everyday mutant” can follow the information. Details coming soon!