MTHFR Support Australia was founded in 2013 by Carolyn Ledowsky in response to a patient demand to address health issues specifically relating to key genes in the methylation cycle. It is this cycle that is responsible for key biochemical pathways that support our mood, sleep, digestion, hormones, energy and detoxification capacity.
Their mission is to educate, support and provide high quality supplements that allow practitioners and patients to support their health in a safe and guided way.
Patients with MTHFR and methylation issues require a unique approach. The standard products on the market may not be suitable for those with specific issues and therefore a more targeted programme is required. The ability to split your B vitamins is desirable as each patient will have a different need and this allows you to tailor to the individual patient.
What is MTHFR?
MTHFR is a gene, which produces the MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) enzyme and is considered a key enzyme in one-carbon metabolism, because it catalyses the irreversible conversion of 5,10-methylene THF to 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate.1 5-MTHF is our active folate that is then used in the methylation cycle.
What is methylation?
Methylation or one carbon metabolism is a network of interrelated biochemical pathways for reduction or oxidation and transfer to other compounds. This allows the transfer of a methyl group (one carbon and three hydrogen atoms) onto amino acids, proteins, enzymes and DNA in every cell and tissue of the body. This regulates healing, produces energy, genetic expression of DNA, synthesises neurotransmitters, liver detoxification, immunity and hormonal clearance. So disturbances in this methylation pathway can have significant and widespread effects on many body systems.
The key pathways are the folate pathway (of which the MTHFR gene is a crucial final step), the methionine pathway which plays a major role in methyl group metabolism as it allows the recycling of homocysteine back to methionine and elimination via the CBS (Cystathione beta synthase pathway). The methionine synthase enzyme contains a cobalamin cofactor 2 which ensures that with the help of Vitamin B12 the methyl group is transferred to homocysteine. Methionine, which is regenerated from homocysteine is then converted to S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMET). AdoMet then donates the methyl group it obtained from 5-MTHF to over 80 biological methylation reactions, including the methylation of DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids and lipoproteins. The key methyltransferases are the enzyme groups that benefit from this donation of methyl’s by AdoMET.