Hey, guys. Welcome back to The ultimate human podcast. This is the Colorado edition. It's absolutely stunning out here. Today's short is going to be about the gene mutation, M-T-H-F-R. And if it's up on the screen right now, you might be guessing what the nickname is for that gene mutation, but it stands from methylene tutrahydrofolate reductase. It is a fancy way of saying that this gene impairs the ability for the human body to convert follic acid and some of its derivatives into the usable form called methylfolate. Now, why is that a big deal? Why should you be concerned about it? And what is all the rage about this gene mutation right now? Well, it's one of the most common gene mutations in the world. Some estimates are as high as 44 % of the population has the MTHFR gene mutation. So first of all, how would you know that you had MTHFR? What might be some of the signs that you have this gene mutation? How serious is it? And how can we treat it? Because remember, these podcast shorts are designed to give you actionable steps that you can put to work in your life as soon as we get off this podcast so that you can actually change the trajectory, the outcome of your life.

And so this gene mutation, M-T-H-F-R, and its ability to impair follate metabolism may not sound like a big deal until you realize that follic acid is actually the most prevalent nutrient in the human diet. If you're listening to this and you live in the United States, remember, in the US, our entire grain supply: all white flour, all white rice, all white bread, all white pasta, grains and cereals of any kind are sprayed with the chemical follic acid. And I say chemical because folic acid, contrary to popular belief, is not a natural vitamin. It does not occur anywhere naturally in nature. You cannot find folic acid anywhere on the surface of the earth. We make it in a laboratory. But follic acid is sprayed on these foods: flour, white rice, white bread, white pasta, most cereals, and all grains. But we don't call it sprayed with follic acid. We call it fortified or enriched. So if foods are fortified or enriched, they have been sprayed with the chemical folic acid. Now, for 60 plus % of the population, this is not a big deal, but for people with this gene mutation, which estimates are as high as 44 % of the population, they take in normal or high amounts of folic acid because of the standard American diet.

And now all of a sudden, they have an overabundance of a nutrient that their body cannot metabolize effectively, and they have a deficiency in what their body needs, which is called methylfolate. Or 5-methylene tetrahydrofolate, 5-M-T-H-F. And so if you have a deficiency in one nutrient and an excess in another nutrient, how does this create or how does this exhibit symptoms in the human body so that you might want to get tested for MTHFR? Well, one of the most common is anxiety. It is a type of anxiety that has three characteristics. Number one, you've had it on and off throughout your entire lifetime, your very first indication that is coming from a gene mutation. Number two, you find it very hard to point to the specific trigger that causes it, meaning you don't have to be claustrophobic and step on a crowded elevator. You don't have to be afraid and walk to the edge of a 30th floor balcony. You can actually just be driving home from work on an otherwise innocuous day and be overwhelmed by anxiety. So it's very hard to point to the specific trigger that causes it. And the last thing is, if you've tried anti-anxiety medications, usually they do not work.

They just make you feel like a zombie. If that sounds like you, you might have MTHFR. It's not 100 %, but you may have the MTHFR gene mutation, and it is absolutely worth getting tested. It could be as simple as supplementing with a complex of B vitamins and methylfolate to spell the end of your anxiety. Another very, very common characteristic of MTHFR patients is that this gene mutation leads to impaired intestinal motility. Remember that very often the speed of the gut is more important than its contents. So if you've suffered from what you think are food allergies or food sensitivities on and off throughout your entire lifetime, and yet it doesn't seem to matter what food elimination diet you go on, or whether you're carnivore, or keto, or whole food, or raw food, or vegan, or vegetarian, then you may have the MTHFR gene mutation, and you may have impaired gut motility because of a deficiency in methylfolate. Very simple for you to supplement with methylfolate. Definitely don't have to do it through me. There are lots of great brands and manufacturers out there, and supplementing with this nutrient very often can restore the motility of the gut to normal.

Remember, if we think about the human intestinal tract as a 30-foot long conveyor belt that we put contents on at one end as they exit the stomach in a very acidic environment. And as these contents traverse the next 30 feet and end in a quasi basic environment before exiting the rectum, the speed at which this intestine moves is very important because the sequence of events in the intestine is very important. So if you have the gene mutation, M-T-H-F-R, you may have impaired gut motility. And if your gut motility is impaired, meaning the pace of the gut is impaired, you eat, you blow up like a tick, but you can't correlate it to the last food item you ate because you think to yourself, Well, I ate that on Monday, and I was fine. And then two days later, I ate the exact same thing, and I blew up like a tick. So if you had an allergy, it would be consistent. Remember, allergies are not transient. They are consistent. People are not allergic to milk on Monday morning, unallergic on Wednesday afternoon, and reallergic on Friday morning. That's not how allergies work. All allergies are consistent.

When you seem to have inconsistent symptoms in your gut, please pay attention. You could have the MTHFRG mutation, and you could be two or three minor supplements with B complex, a B-12 multivitamin, a B-12 vitamin, and methylfolate. You could be that far away from fixing those gut issues.

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Another very common symptom of MTHFR is intermittent gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, irritability, or cramping, whether or not you have recently eaten. Some of you go to bed at night, you sleep all night, and you wake up bloated in the morning. And you go, Why am I bloated in the morning if I haven't eaten for seven, eight, or nine hours? Because when you impair gut motility, contents putify, and the bacterious function perverts. This causes abnormal gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, irritability, and cramping without a correlation to what you just ate. So if you have those types of symptoms, or you find that you're very anxious, or sometimes you get irritable, or you find that you're mood numb, meaning the peaks and valleys of mood for some reason just seem to come and go without any outside correlation, then you may want to get tested for the MTHFR gene mutation. I've personally seen thousands and thousands of patients' lives changed just from simple supplementation after getting an MTHFR genetic mutation test. The last thing I will say is that MTHFR is very early. It's very early in the methylation cycle. So when you have this gene mutation, it can cause other symptoms down the line that don't necessarily come from this gene, but they come from the inability of this gene to supply the raw material to other genes further down the methylation cycle.

So very often the final way that MTHFR manifests itself is in people that have poor sleep patterns, but they have a very specific type of sleep pattern. They lay down exhausted, they're tired, their body tired, but their mind is awake. And when I say their environment quiet and their mind wakes up, what I mean is they go to bed body tired and their mind wakes up. They start thinking through all of these innocuous thoughts as they lay there in bed when they should be falling off to sleep. If that sounds like you, you might want to get an MTHFR gene test. Let's talk about children and MTHFR for a minute. Parents, please listen up, because this may be the most helpful piece of information that you receive as a parent in a long time. Very often we wonder why it's a full contact sport to get our kids in the car to go to school in the morning, or why after they get to school, the phone call comes home from school saying, Hey, Little Johnny or Little Susie can't pay attention. They're disruptive. They don't follow directions. They're not completing their assignments. We really need to do a behavioral evaluation here or bring in the riddle in to solve this behavioral issue.

Well, remember that 44 % of the population estimated has this MTHFR gene mutation. It is very prevalent in children because they make up for a percentage of the population. If you think about the Standard American Diet and what we feed children before they head off to school, and by the way, there are hordes of clinical studies in human beings on dietary control of behavioral disorders, which is directly linked to the MTHFR gene mutation. So if your child potentially has this gene mutation and you feed them a standard American breakfast, think about what kinds of foods have follic acid: pop tarts, white bagels, cereals, breads of all kinds, pasta. Most of the time, they're not pasta in the morning, but they might be eating breads, bagels, cereals, toast, pop tarts, those kinds of white flowers, white rice, white pasta, cereals, and grains. We feed these kids that have a genetic mutation that doesn't allow them to process the follic acid in those foods. And all of a sudden, their behavior shifts. And all of a sudden, a normal child goes to a highly irritable, DEFCON 9, full contact support just to get them in the car to go to school in the morning.

And again, that's when the calls start coming home from school that the child is disruptive or not paying attention or has some impulse control disorder or what have you. Do yourself a favor and just experiment with getting the folic acid out of their diet for three days. If you want to see a demonstrative behavioral change with no risk to your child, just get folic acid-laden foods, any food that is fortified or enriched out of their diet for 36 hours—you can thank me later—and see if their behavior changes. If they have a homozygous, meaning both parents contributed to the gene break, if they have a homozygous, M-T-H-F-R gene, you will see, in that short period of time, a demonstrative change in the child's behavior. If not, you can go back to feeding them whatever you want. But in the morning, try whole-fat Greek yogurt, non-fortified and non-enriched foods like eggs, avocados. Try organic cereals that are not fortified or enriched. And watch what happens to the child's behavior. Now, remember, you got to get it out of their lunch foods, too. They can't go off to school and be eating breads and pastas and cereals and cookies and crackers and things at school that are going to be fortified or enriched.

But you may see a dramatic change in their behavior. If you suspect that they might have the MTHFR gene mutation, there are thousands of ways to get that gene tested. Again, you do not have to do it through me. You can do it through all kinds of services online. If you find that they have it, you can give them a simple methylated vitamin supplement and this could be the behavioral difference that you're looking for to calm things down around your household. So I hope you really found this podcast helpful. As always, if you like the information, please like and subscribe. It allows me to spend more time doing research and bringing this information right to your living rooms. And as always, that's just science. If you haven't had a chance to connect with me on theultimatehuman.

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