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Comment by doitLP | Hacker News Reader

Participants took folic acid (lab created), not folate (the form found in nature) which has been shown to be far more absorbable. Folic acid also binds to the folate receptors, preventing folate from food being taken up. In people with MTHFR gene mutations, folic acid is contraindicated. Anyone with such mutations should be avoiding foods with added folic acid. Folate and folacin seem to be ok. MTHFR is already associated with increased cancer and heart disease.

No mention was made whether the participants had MTHFR mutations, perhaps because the cohorts started 20 years ago and cheap sequencing wasn't yet available.

All it tells is that more actual science needs to be done here. Also the article was classic poor science reporting with obvious bias.

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This really needs to be at the top. It is something 40-60% of the population have MTHFR mutation. Given the size it is kind of surprising the marketing departments haven't started touting MTHFR safe foods on their packaging.

After learning about it from my 23andme results I now avoid regularly eating foods with added folic acid and take a supplement which can't be found at the grocery store because they will sell the lab created variety which can't be processed. After these changes various symptoms I have had all my life went away. But I can only guess what would happen if someone with MTHFR were taking the lab versions supplements every day for years.

Can you provide more information on the supplement and which symptoms you had disappear?

Thanks

Thanks for pointing this out. It was the first thing I thought of after seeing the headline. I have family that mentioned they have a MTHFR mutation so I checked my 23andme results through genetic genie and I did indeed inherit a mutation from one of my parents.

I changed multivitamins to one without folic acid and supplement with methylfolate and methylcobalamin.

I feel like it has helped a bit, but not exactly sure. I am still experimenting with the amount of methylfolate I use. I think if I want to take is serious, I need to cut out caffeine completely. I definitely notice stamina issues when I drink coffee and take methylfolate. Caffeine also prevents B12 absorption with kind of defeats the point also.

I would definitely like to see more research done as it all kind of feels uncertain.

If you use 23andMe, you can get a methylation analysis here: https://geneticgenie.org/methylation-analysis/

I'm not connected with Genetic Genie, I'm only sharing a way I found to discover if I have the MTHFR mutation.

That site says 23andme stopped providing health information, but they clearly still offer the service. Are they not able to use the results from 23andme if it is recent?

Also, what led you to your curiosity of MTHFR? Are there other services you use to “hack your health”?

You have to download your raw genetic data from 23andMe and then re-upload it to get the methylation analysis. You can download your raw genetic data from 23andMe here: https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/download/

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