B Vitamins

There has been quite alot of excitement in the press recently when researchers at Oxford University discovered a link between Vitamin B and Alzheimers. It is good that this is coming into the public domain. As we are about to discover, the body needs the B group of Vitamins for prevention of many of the major diseases prevalent today – and, for many of us, uptake of these B vitamins is compromised.





The B Vitamins used in the research were B6, 9 (folic acid) and 12. The latter is interesting since its main dietary sources are clams and mussels, liver, red meat, oily fish and some dairy - which puts vegans at a distinct disadvantage.



These 3 varieties of B vitamins reduce something called homocysteine in the body.



It has been known for quite a while that homocysteine is the best predictor of heart attacks and diabetes. And, to lower homocysteine you take B vitamins. These, of course cannot be patented as Statins can be. (or - unlike Statins, these cannot be patented and sold by the drugs companies).



So what is homocysteine? Well, when you eat protein, the body breaks it down and uses the methionine which whizzes about the blood stream to be used in various ways.

It is all very complex, and the following is vastly simplified. It is all about methylation, which is a bio-chemical term for the body adding or subtracting a methyl group (=1 carbon plus 3 hydrogen atoms) to all the various systems of the body to keep things running – eg it is how noradrenaline gets turned into the adrenaline that you need when that sabre toothed tiger jumps out at you.



As the body goes endlessly through this methylation process, during the conversions homocysteine is produced. Homocysteine is a poison to the body. So the body rapidly changes it to either SAMe or Glutathione using long named things like homocysteine methyltransferase, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (thankfully shortened to MTHFR) PLUS B6,9, 12 , zinc, magnesium and something else called TMG (trimethylglycine).



Well, all these chemical terms bring me out in the heebie geebies. However, I’ll batter on because it is about to get rather interesting.



What is SAMe (S-adenosyl methionine)? It is a natural anti-depressant, anti-arthritic and liver protecting agent. Glutathione is a powerful anti-aging antioxidant and detoxifying agent – ie critical in the immune system.



Also methyl groups are added to and taken away from our DNA. When not enough methylation is happening the DNA cannot properly repair itself, leaving us at higher risk from cancer and autoimmune diseases.



Unless you are a vegan, all this seems interesting, but why should it be relevant? Well, certain things reduce the methylation process in the body. The most important of which is if your pee smells if you eat asparagus. Now this is argued about. All I will say is that no, not everybody’s pee smells if they eat asparagus. And if yours does, it is extremely noticeable. Apparently is it a gene that comes from the Romans and it is dominant, so it is on the increase. This gene is called the MTHFR gene (shortened by industry insiders to The Mother Fucker Gene). So 3 paragraphs ago I said that this stuff, MTHFR, is a critical player in methylation. And if you have the gene, this pathway is broken so the body cannot use the B vitamins to complete the cycle. Eek. Also if you are on the pill, methylation is compromised.



There is good news and that is that you can take B vitamins as a supplement – but they must be in methylated form. So rushing down to Holland and Barrett to buy B Vitamins will not necessarily help (in fact if B6 is not methylated, it can cause nerve damage. Even more eeeks.) More good news: the B group of vitamins are all water soluble, like vitamin C, so if you have too many in a day, you will simply wee them away.



Bad news; here are some of the medical conditions associated with high homocysteine:



Pregnancy problems (inc miscarriages, pre-eclampsia, premature birth, infertility)

Alzheimer’s

Anaemia

Birth defects

Cancers (breast, colon, thyroid, leukaemia etc)

Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)

Coeliac disease

Crohn’s
H Pylori

Parkinson’s

Pernicious anaemia

Psoriasis

Strokes

Heart Attacks

Polycystic ovary disease



The list is long – the above is a small sample. And it all happens because the body is lacking the pathway to make those vital substances to keep these horrible things at bay. Yes, people get ill for genetic reasons. But there is more choice in this than the drug companies would have us believe. You do not have to get these diseases even if they are in your genes.



Avoiding genetic diseases (and cancer) is a long and inevitably complex subject – but as you see from the subject matter of this blog, sorting out your B vitamins is 1 answer. I want to finish with a very favorite quote of mine that I first heard from Jonny Bowden (who wrote books like Living the Low Carb Life): Genetics Loads the Gun. Environment Pulls the Trigger. Environment = how we live, eat, drink, breathe, rest and detoxify.