Genetics Report-MTHFR and Nutrahacker
MTHFR Basics
MTHFR-you may have heard about the gene and its significance. This gene has been identified as being important in several pathways dealing with detox and energy. Labs are finally getting on board and are proud of themselves for offering an MTHFR screen and to let you know if you are homo or heterozygous. Some months ago, we began to explore this and closely related genes and made an attempt to problem solve some health issues armed with this new information. I hate to admit that it didn't go well. Finding a heterozygous gene and adding methyl-folate and/or methylcobalamine (a type of B12) was just as likely to make things worse as better. I was looking for something more promising than a coin toss to help me move a person's health toward something more positive. So I kept looking and ran across some important information that is worthy of sharing here. This approach is cheap, important and useful making it the trifecta of health care testing. This approach to health is fairly new but the information we have is well backed up by peer-reviewed literature. Not too far off in your future, you will begin problem solving with genetic information in this way. You won't even want to take an over the counter medication before knowing the genetic probability of that medication being a help or a detriment. You will know which type of diet will give you the best result, which supplements are likely to be helpful and which to avoid. You will discover who should not have an opiate medication for risk of rapid addiction.
Where to Start
You will start with a report from 23andme or ancestry. At the time of this writing, my information has these as the top two databases in the world with well over 20 million customers between them and growing fast. They now have a nice genetic analysis that other sites can use. That brings us to nutrahacker.com. They will connect to your 23andme or ancestry raw information and provide several different analyses for very reasonable prices.
Helpful Nutrahacker Reports
We are most interested in two reports, Detoxification and Methylation Report and Carrier Status Report. The price is about $57 and $22 respectively. I am not crazy about this site but the reports are my favorite once you have them. Also the type of reports and names keep changing. Last time I checked in 2022, the Carrier and Mutation Report had disappeared.
A Little Context
This would be a good time to mention that the first DNA sequencing cost about $2 billion. I say that by way of context to highlight how far this technology has come in a few years.
Complete Mutation Report
The Detoxification and Methylation Report (AKA Complete Mutation Report), you will have very complete information that includes: Category (such as detox, methylation etc), RSID (specific gene variation), Gene Name, Expected genotype, Genotype found with risk, Frequency of this gene in the population, Gene function, Description of problems with this gene, Things to Increase (diet and supplements such as more broccoli and NAC), Things to avoid like nicotine or methyl B12. This information will make more sense once you see your report. The genes scanned and presented are only those that have been adequately researched (about 200). As time goes on, this type of analysis will become increasingly useful and commonplace. Only the genes for heterozygous and homozygous for risk factors will be presented. If you have two good genes with no identified risk, those won't show up on the report. You will be busy learning how to manage the homozygous genes and won't give much attention to the heterozygous presentations.
An MTHFR Analysis is Very Incomplete
You will soon see why you can't learn much by just running an MTHFR. Homozygous means you have one identical gene from each parent and heterozygous means that each parent contributed a different gene. The second Nutrahacker Report is the Carrier Status (AKA Carrier and Drug Response). This will list what disease you might be at risk for like beta thalassemia, polycystic kidney disease, phenylketonuria etc. Most of the time you will already know if you have most of the diseases listed. Also reported is the likely response to different drugs based on current research. Some drugs will work better than others based on your genetics. You and/or your doctor will have to take your clinical picture into consideration to decide where to start and which genes are most important to address. The results will come to you in an email. You can give us a call and then forward that report to us if you would like us to take a look at it and give our impression. This will help both of us as the more of these we see the more they mean to us. We will then be able to give you some insight as to where you might begin making changes to improve your health. We have found this testing to be very helpful in understanding our own health pictures and you will too.
Summary of Steps
Genetic Profile You can get an excellent genetic risk profile for a reasonable cost by following this fairly simple process. 1. Open 23andme.com and create an account with your preferred email. For $99 they send you a kit for saliva collection. Return the kit and wait 2-3 weeks for them to sequence your DNA. You will get some fun information about ancestry but not a lot of specific information about health. Like I always say, this is interesting information but not terribly helpful. 2. When you get your 23andme results, go to nutrahacker.com. They will ask to link to your 23andme account so they can access your raw data. You are looking for the Complete Profile. They have other ones too that may or may not be interested in like specific drug reaction probabilities. The Complete profile doesn't always show up. They are constantly working on the site so be patient and check back every couple of days. It will be worth it. The results you get will be a bit overwhelming but the report does give supplements to avoid and use to optimize your health. Some are contradictory so you will have to use clinical judgement to resolve conflicts.