Fix Fertility, Thyroid, Anxiety & Sleep With This Methylation SECRET

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I'm your host, Dr. Axe. And each and every week on this show, we explore the science and principles and how to grow in body, mind, spirit, and take your health and your life to the next level. On today's show, I'm going to be breaking down what is methylation and going through something called the methylfolate pathway.

And by the way, this is critical for supporting fertility, helping reverse hypothyroidism, and so many other conditions. And if your body isn't converting B vitamins into into their usable forms, then it's going to make you ill. It's been linked to everything from depression to infertility to low testosterone to anxiety and a number of other conditions.

And I'll go through how to use food as medicine and lifestyle medicine in order to optimize methylation. Now, maybe you've heard of methylation before, or you, you may know, maybe you've even been tested genetically to realize that you have a genetic variation to where you don't convert B vitamins like folate, as well to methylfolate, which is the usable form by your cells.

So I'm going to get into all of that and probably some other things you've never heard before. You might just be taking one nutrient, think that's all you need to do to support methylation. The reality is there are 3 major things you can do, and I'll cover those on today's episode.

Before I jump into the content though, make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the notification bell so you don't miss a single episode. Every week I'm bringing you new content information on how to heal at a cellular level and also how to take your life to another level. And I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. Again, it's growing like crazy.

I'm so grateful for all of you that are sharing this and on mission with me. All right, so let's first talk about what is methylation. And I am going to get into some science here, but I promise you we're going to get into the practical stuff here pretty soon.

But I think it's so important to understand methylation is a biochemical process where a compound called a methyl group is added to molecules in your body like DNA. DNA, proteins, and fats. So this is something that's added on to certain things within your body, including vitamins. Now, think of it as a way the body adds sticky notes to its molecules to make sure the process is done properly.

And these sticky notes help turn genes on and off, repair DNA, and also help your body detoxify. So if your body isn't adding on these little sticky notes on certain nutrients in your body, Well, now your body can't repair itself. Your body can't detoxify. Your body isn't turning on and off the wrong genes. So that could increase your risk of certain types of cancer. All kinds of things happen.

So methylation is essential for maintaining healthy cells and organ function. Now, imagine your body as a car factory. All right? Your DNA or your genes are the master blueprints for making the cars. Okay? So again, your genes and DNA are the blueprints, exactly the instructions you need for making the cars.

Your RNA is the photocopier making copies of the instructions of the blueprints to give out to all of these cells in your body. Your ribosomes are the machines that read the instructions and start to build the car parts. And then your mitochondria is the power plant that's providing energy to run the machines and factory. Then you have proteins and enzymes.

These are the workers that are specialized machines that actually do the building and repairs. And then nutrients like vitamin B12, vitamin B2 known as riboflavin, these are the essential supplies or tools that the workers need to do the job properly. And without these supplies, the workers can't follow the blueprints correctly and the factory doesn't run smoothly.

So your body— here's what happens— your body can't create healthy cells. So your thyroid gets sick, your brain gets sick, your cells and mitochondria get sick when you don't have the proper nutrients that can be converted in your body. And so methylation is like adding specific instructions to the blueprints to make sure everything is built and functions correctly.

So if it doesn't have this, if it's not following this proper process, your cells are not being built correctly. Did you know? That nearly every single year, almost every organ in your body is new. The tissues are new.

But if you're not methylating properly, your body, when it's creating new thyroid tissue or tissue of your reproductive organs or liver, it actually will build and create tissues that are abnormal, that aren't functioning at the highest level possible, which will make that organ sick, not function properly.

So if you're— if it doesn't build a healthy liver, your liver isn't going to detoxify properly. If it doesn't build healthy ovaries and testes, well, your hormones are going to be imbalanced. And so that's why methylation is so vital to your health. Also, methylation helps control gene expression, DNA repair, even neurotransmitter production.

It's also essential for making key compounds in your body like coenzyme Q10, glutathione, melatonin, and neurotransmitters like dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. So think about this.

If your body is not methylating properly and you're not going to get the nutrients and the other things I'm going to talk about here in a minute, Your body can't create things like glutathione, so your body now can't detoxify. Your body isn't creating enough melatonin, so that's why you're not sleeping at night.

Your body's not creating enough coenzyme Q10, so now your heart and cardiovascular system are sick, increasing your risk of things like myocarditis and other forms of heart disease. Proper methylation is critical for maintaining overall health and cellular function. Now, here are the side effects of poor Methylation. And this is a long list, but think about yourself as I go through this list.

And if you have any one of these conditions, there's a really good likelihood you are not methylating properly. Elevated homocysteine levels, having depression, anxiety, irritability.

If you've ever had a miscarriage or multiple miscarriages, chemical sensitivities, food sensitivities, red face post-exercise, Allergies, addiction tendencies, OCD, having a low pain threshold, headaches or migraines, digestive issues like inflammatory bowel disease or IBS, brain fog, insomnia, high estrogen levels, fatigue, muscle pain, low neurotransmitter levels like serotonin, heavy menstrual periods, and lowered immunity.

You're just getting sick more than you know you should. Those are all warning signs that your body isn't methylating properly, and there's really some nutrient deficiencies around this. Now, let me first talk about the biggest factors that cause poor methylation, and then I want to get into the genetics here. This is big. So first one is, is that causes poor methylation is genetic issues.

If you have one or both what are called MTHFR gene variations, that is typically one of the biggest, if not the single biggest cause of poor methylation. Now, the second one is Lifestyle factors. In fact, excessive alcohol consumption, excessive caffeine consumption, and smoking, doing stimulants and drugs— those affect methylation.

Environmental issues like high exposure to toxins, specifically arsenic found in food and water supply, um, having inadequate nutrients. Now, this is probably the single biggest, even ahead of genetics, but it's up there with it. Um, inadequate intake of vitamin B2, Folate, vitamin B12 specifically. Poor cellular health.

If your mitochondria aren't healthy, your ribosomes and other cellular components, and then gut dysbiosis. If you have an imbalance of good bacteria and bad bacteria, here's the reality. Your body cannot absorb these B vitamins properly that are essential for methylation. But also, did you know that your gut synthesizes?

That means it creates B vitamins and nutrients that are required for methylation. Now, here's the reality from a genetic standpoint. This MTHFR gene variant affects folate metabolism. So it means your body is not converting folate into something called methylfolate. And this leads to a reduced efficiency in transforming dietary folate into its active form, what's called M— what's called F MTHF.

So basically what's happening is if you have this gene variant, your body is not as good at converting the food you— so you're eating food and you're getting folate. Well, now your body isn't able to convert it as well to the usable form for your cells, so it just gets wasted and never used.

Approximately 40% of the population has an MTHFR gene variant, and that means about 100 million Americans alone aren't methylating properly. And so So it's causing issues like hypothyroidism, infertility, and other issues like clinical depression and anxiety. So here are the basics of what you need to know about these gene variants.

You can either have— there are 2 variant issues with these genes, and you could have just one of those single variants. So you're going to have a lower level of methylation, or some people actually have both variations, which puts them at an even bigger disadvantage of not methylating properly. And you can do a simple DNA or gene test in order to be able to tell if you're methylating properly.

In fact, there's online lab testing services like Ulta Labs where you can test your homocysteine levels, which will tell you if you are methylating properly. And also there's an MTHFR gene variations test you can also do to tell if you have this genetic issue within your own body. Now, some people will call it a mutation. I don't think that's the right word for it.

I think variation is the right language for this. Now, let me go through again here. Here are the consequences of poor methylation. The biggest one is suboptimal energy levels and poor mood.

It interferes with neurotransmitters that lead to a lack of energy, poor mood, feelings of anxiousness, kind of just feeling low, like, like you're just not excited about life, poor focus, ADHD, and difficulty sleeping. Also, Poor methylation leads to poor detoxification abilities.

If you are unable to excrete toxins, it can drive inflammation, impact the liver, reduce energy, and impact gut health negatively. And here's one big warning sign that you're not methylating properly.

If you've ever done a blood test and you've tested for your homocysteine levels, elevated homocysteine levels contribute to inflammation and vascular diseases, which affect the heart, the brain, and joints, leading to joint pain or arthritic pain.

Also, it leads to hormone imbalances like estrogen dominance, hypothyroidism, and fertility issues, and decreased immune function, because methylation— if you're not methylating properly, your body is not able to fight infections as well.

So if you ever have come down with Lyme disease or Epstein-Barr, or you get hit by COVID harder than other people or have autoimmune disease, any of those factors means you are most likely not methylating properly and not converting your B vitamins into the usable forms. Now, I want to go through some of the compounds that require methylation that I talked about earlier. I hit on coenzyme Q10.

I also hit on glutathione and melatonin, also epinephrine and norepinephrine. So it affects your stress hormones. Also, it affects creatine. Now, creatine is important for energy storage and building muscle. So if you have a hard time putting on muscle, you might not be methylating properly. Also, amino acids known as cysteine and taurine. These are critical for energy and also for heart health.

And also phosphatidylcholine, which is a major component of your cellular membranes. So keeping your cells healthy, which is important for longevity. I want to go through now the most essential nutrients when it comes to methylation. Now, when— if you're fairly educated on methylation, or you may be thinking mostly of folate, the reality is though, folate is not the only nutrient.

Here are the nutrients most responsible for and that you have to have in order to support methylation. The first is actually an amino acid known as methionine. This is a universal methyl donor. This is where if somebody is a vegan or they're not getting enough protein intake, which is many people, especially women, then you're not going to be methylating properly.

This is where you want to get a lot of protein-rich foods and aim for about 30 to 40 grams of protein per meal. The next most important for methylation is going to be vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin. This is critical for various enzymatic reactions in the body.

In fact, there is a PhD who said he believes the single most important thing for supporting methylation is vitamin B2, which oftentimes isn't discussed. Vitamin B6 is also important. Folate, of course, is critical. It's going to be up there with B2 as the most important nutrient when it's— when it comes to methylation. And vitamin B12 as well.

Vitamin B12 is vital for nerve, nerve function, DNA production, but also for So I want to walk you through this methylfolate cycle. And here are some of the basics you need to know. Number one, when you consume dietary folate via the meat you eat, the grains, the vegetables, foods high in folate, your body then should attach what is called a methyl group.

Then over time, folate gives that methyl group to homocysteine, which then that can then convert into methionine, which then your body uses to create things like SAMe and eventually glutathione. So So it's very, very important that this, this happens because if it— if this one thing doesn't happen, it's like a domino effect.

Many things can't happen in the body, everything from cellular energy to your body creating neurotransmitters for good mood to thyroid hormones, all kinds of things. So it's very, very important that your body has not just folate, that it gets a methyl group attached and becomes methylfolate. Now, here's what the cycle looks like.

You have folate, and then in order to uh, create methylfolate, your body needs something called DHF or DHFR. This is an enzyme that supports this conversion. Then from there, your body needs vitamin B6. Okay, so vitamin B6 and also components like serine. So, so your body— B9 needs B6 in order to work properly. Now after that, it needs vitamin B2.

For the next conversion, and then it needs vitamin B12. So maybe you've heard this before. Have you heard that in order to absorb calcium, your body also needs magnesium? All right. Or in order to absorb vitamin D, your body also needs magnesium. So, so what happens is, in order for your body to actually be able to use certain vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, it needs other things.

And this is why— Studies have shown if you take calcium by itself, and especially if it's a cheap calcium, it actually can increase your risk of heart disease because it causes calcification of your arteries. Think about this. Calcium is just floating around in your bloodstream and it says, well, I need magnesium and vitamin D and vitamin K2 to work properly.

And because it doesn't have those 3 things, your body can't use it. So excess of it stays in the bloodstream and it can get stuck in the cholesterol in your arteries. And then calcify and cause scarring of the arteries, which can cause permanent and really severe damage.

So, so just like that, just like calcium has to have those 3 or several other nutrients in order to be utilized by the body, your body has to have vitamin B6, vitamin B2, and vitamin B12 in order to properly utilize folate and convert it in the body.

Now, there are actually other things then that are needed, specifically choline, which used to be known as vitamin B4, but you need choline as well in order for this conversion process to happen. So as I mentioned, you have to have those 3 critical vitamins in order to convert folate for this proper methylfolate process. Now, one other big thing you need is you need enzymes. Okay?

Just like enzymes help us break down the food we eat and turn it into something else, something that's usable by the body, In a very similar way, we need enzymes to help turn protein into amino acids for cellular and organ function. And the most important enzyme in this process is called dihydrofolate reductase, right?

It reduces, it changes folate into a usable form that's important for the methylation process. And it's been shown that certain things affect DHFR. We first talked about genetic variability, right? So if your genetics, if you have one of those MTHFR of our genes that will cause issues there.

Inhibitory drugs, actually specifically pain-relieving drugs like methotrexate, has been shown to decrease this enzyme, this, this folate enzyme. Uh, also, uh, birth control pills and antibiotics negatively affect this conversion. So remember, I've talked about this, that if you have ever taken a birth control pill, it increases your risk of hypothyroidism dramatically by 283.7%.

If you've taken it long-term, nearly 10 years. Uh, and so part of the reason is, is folate— uh, birth control acts in a way as an antibiotic. It kills off some good bacteria, and then it actually, uh, lessens your total B vitamins you— that your body can utilize.

And that's— and it also causes a long-term folate deficiency if you take— if you've ever taken a prescription antibiotic drug or birth control pill. This is also why probiotics are critical.

But the first 2 things I just mentioned here that affect these enzymes that help with your, your methylfolate pathway are Genetic variabilities and taking conventional medications like painkilling drugs, methotrexate, birth control, and antibiotics. The third thing, of course, that's going to affect this dihydrofolate reductase is insufficient dietary folate and other B vitamins.

And then other health conditions actually increase your risk of not being able to methylate properly. Specifically, getting cancer, autoimmune disease, or chronic inflammatory conditions decrease your body's ability to. Mm-hmm. Convert these nutrients. Now, let me go through the top foods for methylation. So the first one is you should be trying to get a lot of folate-rich foods.

Foods rich in folate include green leafy vegetables like spinach and mustard greens and kale, also asparagus, broccoli, avocado, beets, citrus fruits, animal proteins, especially beef liver, Red meat, legumes, nuts, and seeds. All of these are high in folate.

So if you're eating a lot of meat and vegetables— is basically what I just said there— meat, vegetables, maybe some beans, nuts, and seeds, then you're going to be getting adequate levels of folate in your diet. Vitamin B12 is also critical. You're going to find that in really just animal-based products.

Meat, organ meats, poultry, fish, and eggs is where you're going to get vitamin B12 and some fermented dairy like a, like a goat's milk kefir or something like that. So, or sheep milk yogurt. So, so that's where you're going to get vitamin B12.

Vitamin B6, which is also critical, you're going to get that from meat, fermented whole ancient grains, certain nuts and seeds like pistachios and sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and then also things like garlic, legumes, and prunes will also have some vitamin B6 there as well. And then riboflavin, I mentioned this It's one of the most critical nutrients.

In fact, PhD Chris Masterjohn says we need to be getting at least 1.6 milligrams a day of riboflavin. So let me share the foods that are the highest in riboflavin. And by the way, you're going to see also many of these foods contain many of the B vitamins I just talked about. But beef liver is by far number one. I mean, listen to this.

Beef liver has If you did 3 ounces, it has 3 milligrams of riboflavin. The next closest food is yogurt, and that only contains 0.6. So we're saying it has about 5.5 times more riboflavin in beef liver than even in the second, the runner-up there, which is, which is, which is organic yogurt.

Uh, the next there would be spinach, then grass-fed beef, beef, raw organic milk, almonds, eggs, feta cheese, lamb, wild-caught fish like salmon, lentils, mushrooms, tahini, and kidney beans. These are all the foods that are high in riboflavin. And I want to show you here, if you want to know the food that contains every single one of these methylated nutrients your body needs, it's liver. Okay.

And today, because we do not follow a lot of the ancient practices of our ancestors, We are not eating organ meats, but they are as critical to your body as eating muscle meat or bone broth or any other superfood. Now, if you don't like the taste of organ meats, then you can take them as a tablet or a capsule.

But if you want to support methylation, by far, probably by 10x, organ meats are the most powerful foods for supporting methylation in your body. In order to methylate properly, you need every nutrient I'm going to go through here on the screen.

Vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, folate, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorus, selenium, protein like methionine, choline, and tyrosine. You need all of these nutrients.

And when we're looking at Raw beef liver per 100 grams, you're seeing— I mean, listen, it has over 1,000% your RDA of vitamin B12, over 260% your recommended daily intake of riboflavin, over 136% your daily intake of B5. And so you can see here that consuming organ meats, whether it be liver or heart or kidney or any of these organ tissues, they are the top methylating foods out there by far.

Now, the other thing I want to mention that's critical to support methylation in the body— and by the way, I did mention methylating folate, you need B2, B6, and B12, and choline. Those are the, those are the ones that are most critical.

But the reality is, for other methylation processes within the body, I'm only talking about one thing here, okay, which, which is very important, but there are also other methylation pathways where you need nutrients like zinc and magnesium, copper and iron. And so that's why you also want to make sure you get foods very, very rich in other vitamins and minerals as well.

Now, I want to talk about the impact of the gut microbiome on methylation. The gut microbiome plays a significant role. Probiotics support the gut microbiota, which in turn influences methylation. It's been shown in studies specific strains like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium can enhance folate production and absorption.

I mentioned this earlier, your gut not only supports the absorption of nutrients, it actually creates nutrients. So the probiotics, the good bacteria in your gut actually synthesize and create folate and B12 and B6. It helps us create these nutrients. And the reality is, is that studies show that consuming probiotic-rich foods improves methylation in the body.

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that supplementing with probiotics improved folate status and reduced homocysteine levels in 200 participants in a study showing a 25% reduction in homocysteine levels. That's just by taking a probiotic supplement.

Another study published in the British Journal of Nutrition on 150 people found that probiotics improve the absorption of B vitamins critical for methylation specifically by 30%. And another study published in Stanford found that taking a high-quality probiotic supplement can increase your absorption of B vitamins by as much as 50%. Here's another interesting one.

Uh, methylate— a fermentation Also boosts methylation. There is a study done on bread specifically. This is non-organic bread versus an organic fermented bread, and they found that bread fortified with synthetic folic acid should be avoided due to it blocking folate receptor sites. High circulating levels of folic acid are linked to autism and breast cancer. So do you hear what I said?

If you're buying foods that are what we call fortified— fortified cereals, fortified milk— where they add in their own B vitamins and, and things like folate. Okay. And you'll see this again by any box of cereal, by almost any gallon of conventional milk, or almost any conventional grain or snack product. They add in synthetic B vitamins. They add in synthetic folate. Here's the reality, though.

Studies show that when you have this high circulating folic acid, It's been linked to autism, breast cancer, and numerous other conditions. I mentioned this earlier. If it's synthetic, your body cannot fully absorb and utilize it. So it gets left in your bloodstream or causes inflammation or turns on or off the wrong genes.

You do not want to consume these fortified synthetic cereals to get your B vitamins. Also, I want to mention this. This is incredible. So that's non-organic bread, okay, which has an average of 200 micrograms of of fortified synthetic folic acid.

Now, on the other hand, if you do an ancient grain sourdough bread, one study found that niacin, known as vitamin B3, increases by tenfold during the sourdough fermentation process. This is specifically done on rye sourdough bread, and it more than doubled the amount of folate in the bread.

So if you're going to consume grains, if you consume them fermented like a true sourdough bread, it can anywhere from 2x to 10x the B vitamins that are absorbed in there. Part of it is due to the probiotics, the increased absorption, and then synthesization where your body creates its own B vitamins there.

So it's pretty amazing when we look at why, you know, the benefits of probiotics when it comes to even methylation. Really, the basis of methylation is this: your body needs to be able to convert things properly. Part of the probiotic process or fermentation is taking something like Milk and turning it into yogurt. It's taking sugars and turning them into good bacteria.

And so it makes sense that there's a conversion process happening in converting a food. That then conversion process helps us in converting one vitamin into another type within the body. Now, let me go through my top strategies to improve methylation in a nutshell.

And if you're one of those people saying, you know what, I've struggled with infertility, I've struggled with depression, I've struggled with low energy levels, and I know part of my problem is methylation. Well, here are the top things you should do. Number 1, supplement with a methylated B vitamin or a methylated multivitamin.

Okay, you can buy a vitamin supplement that actually contains methylated versions like methylfolate or methylcobalamin. So you can buy a Take methylated B vitamins. That's number 1. Number 2, take a multi-organ supplement or a liver supplement. Okay? Take the directed dosage once to twice daily, and you're going to be getting a lot of these methylated nutrients in high doses.

Also, number 2, take a probiotic supplement. Take a high-quality probiotic supplement that has soil-based organisms, prebiotics, and postbiotics that's high quality. And in addition to that, you need to consume foods that are high in probiotics and fiber like vegetables, berries, beans, and fermented foods like sauerkraut and coconut yogurt, those sort of foods.

And also consume foods that are rich in folate, riboflavin, and vitamin B12. That's basically going to be wild organic meat products like red meat is going to be fantastic for this. Things like steamed green leafy vegetables.

If you consume a lot of meat, quality meat and vegetables, you're going to be getting those along with taking those 3 supplements— the methylated B, the multi-organ supplement, or in the probiotic.

Those are the biggest game changers when it comes to supporting methylation in your body and also just reducing stress, reducing your exposure to toxins like alcohol, And non-organic foods, of course, that's going to help as well in that methylation process. But I hope that you've enjoyed this episode.

This is really important because I know that this is really diving deep into some of the science behind this, but methylation is crucial to so many things I shared with you. And if you know somebody who's struggling with— I mentioned hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease, depression, anxiety, infertility, There's a really good chance they're not methylating properly.

Remember, you can also do a genetic test or test for homocysteine levels, and that will give you a clue into how well you might be methylating in the first place. Well, I want to say, hey, thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, every week I'm diving deep into how to heal body, mind, and spirit. And remember, we got to— we got to help people.

We got to save some lives out there. So many people don't know the truth about methylation. Do me a favor. Share this video. Share this video, whether it's on Instagram or Facebook or just texting a friend. More people need to know the truth about how to use food, lifestyle, and mindset medicine, and I'm here to help. Also, don't forget to subscribe here if you enjoyed this episode.

I've got a lot more incredible content coming out and some also some amazing guests coming out here in the new future. And thanks all of you also for liking this, for commenting. Let me know your thoughts about methylation. If I want to hear If you've ever done a methylation or gene test or checked your homocysteine levels, or if you think that you might not be methylating properly.

Hey, thanks everybody for watching and listening to another episode of the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I'll see you on the next episode.