News bulletin……
None of us are going to get out of here alive! BUT, wouldn’t it be nice to know how to have those last years be full of life not sickness?
This is a BIG topic so let’s look at some of the major factors.
- Genetics – we can now look into your “book of life” and see how uniquely you where created. We recently did this for my husband and discovered he has some gene mutations that make him an “inflammation machine”, from birth!
- Inflammation – science believes this is at the root of most age related diseases
- Free Radical Damage – or “oxidative stress” as it’s sometimes called. Think “rusting from the inside out” and you get a good visual of what’s going on inside your body.
- Toxins – this is tied to both inflammation and oxidative stress. As our bodies age we lose the ability to detoxify as effectively as we did when we where younger thus we have increased inflammation and oxidation. We are also exposed to more toxins than any other generation!
- Stress – this can be physical stress from one of the above or emotional stress, just look at how our presidents age!
Ok, so let’s dive into ONE of these on this blog post.
Genetics
We have only recently been able to do genetic testing. You may have seen the “23 and Me” ads on TV or the “Ancestory.com” ads in the last couple of years. This is what we did for my husband (23andme). When we got that back we had to send it to a third party to decipher it THEN we had to make an appointment with a doc in Austin who could read it!!
As I mentioned above we found out that my husband does not “methylate” well. Turns out about 50% of the population does not methylate well or we have a genetic defect that doesn’t allow us to do so. So what does that mean???
Methylfolate is most often referred to as the ‘active’ or usable form of folate (form of B vitamin) that our cells require. Because the body’s cells cannot actually use folic acid, it must first go through a metabolic pathway or 4-step conversion process to become Methylfolate before the cells can use it . It is this metabolic pathway that the MTHFR gene defect inhibits and cause methylation deficiencies and/or neuro-immune syndromes. Simply stated, MTHFR most often refers to a genetic mutation that inhibits the body’s ability to methylate or convert folic acid from the food we eat into Methylfolate.
So what??
Well….If you don’t methylate properly you don’t get the B vitamins to the nervous and immune system. This is just a short list of what these B-vitamins support.
- Mood Improvement & Stabilization
- Mental Focus & Concentration
- Organization Skills
- Short Term Memory
- Hormonal Regulation
- Sleep Patterns
- Immune Function
- Inflammation
When you look at that list then think about an aging person, do you see any connection? Many of those symptoms accelerate as we age and if we have a genetic defect in that pathway we are going to age much faster!
There is GOOD NEWS! The test kits are getting less complicated and more accessible so more practitioners (yours truly included) will be offering Genetic testing so you can look inside that magnificent body of yours and know exactly what to do to age younger!!
Ok, one down and more to come on my next blog!
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