MTHFR: Your Methylated B Vitamin Could Be Making You Worse

MTHFR is not a disease. It is a gene variant that slows your methylation cycle, and 40 to 50 percent of people carry a copy of it. Kristine Cassar, owner of BeeWell Functional Wellness in The Woodlands, Texas, carries two copies. So does her daughter. Host Melissa Goodwin asks the questions people actually search: what MTHFR stands for, what the variant does to folate and B12, whether it explains anxiety and brain fog, whether you should get tested, and what to look for on a supplement label. Kristine also takes on the hardest question in her field head on, that the American College of Medical Genetics recommends against routine MTHFR testing, and says plainly where she thinks they are right and where she thinks conventional care does not test enough. In this episode What MTHFR stands for and what the enzyme does in your body Why 40 to 50 percent of people carry one copy and 10 to 12 percent carry two, per the 1000 Genomes Project data Kristine cites How much a variant slows methylation: roughly 30 percent with one copy, up to 70 percent with two The symptoms she sees most: brain fog, tiredness, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, stress hormones that stay high Why she says MTHFR does not cause disease, and what she says it can do instead The two SNPs she looks at: C677T and A1298C Why grabbing a methylated B vitamin off the shelf can backfire, and what over-methylation feels like Folic acid vs folate vs methylfolate, and why she does not recommend folic acid The two things to look for on a label: L-5-MTHF and methylcobalamin, and why folate without B12 does not work What homocysteine is, what most labs call normal, and the number she wants to see What testing costs, and when her answer is to do nothing at all Chapters 0:00 The symptoms people never connect to MTHFR 1:07 Why this episode exists 2:32 What BeeWell Functional Wellness does 3:44 What MTHFR stands for and what the enzyme does 5:18 Is it a mutation? 40 to 50 percent carry one copy 6:14 One copy vs two copies: 30 percent vs 70 percent slower 6:51 Brain fog, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks 7:41 What methylation is and why you should care 9:13 You have the variant and you feel fine. Now what? 10:21 C677T, A1298C, and how common they really are 11:45 Does MTHFR cause disease? The honest answer 14:18 Her daughter, 1997, and the test that changed everything 16:09 The methylated B vitamin mistake and over-methylation 18:12 Why people actually walk into her practice 18:58 The genetics guideline says the evidence is not there 21:52 What MTHFR testing costs 23:02 Pregnancy, folic acid, and what she recommends instead 24:51 Folic acid vs folate vs methylfolate 25:29 What to look for on a supplement label 27:24 Homocysteine and the number she wants to see 28:40 Liposomal vs pill vs sublingual 30:01 The biggest mistake after a positive test 31:08 What the internet gets wrong about MTHFR 32:02 Is any of this pseudoscience? 32:58 What working with her actually looks like 36:43 Why this work matters to her 37:44 Her own daily routine 39:52 The billboard answer 40:54 Where to find BeeWell Functional Wellness About the guest Kristine Cassar is the owner and operator of BeeWell Functional Wellness in The Woodlands, Texas, with a brick and mortar clinic and a virtual practice. She came to this work in 1997 when her two year old daughter had health issues conventional care was not resolving. Testing showed her daughter was a homozygous carrier of the MTHFR variant. Kristine was later tested and found she carries two copies as well. Website: beewellwoodlands.com Facebook and Instagram: BeeWell Functional Wellness Kristine offers something useful to listeners: photograph the front and back of your supplement bottle, send it to her by direct message on Instagram or Facebook, and she will tell you whether that supplement is doing what you think it is doing. Resources mentioned American College of Medical Genetics practice guideline on MTHFR polymorphism testing 1000 Genomes Project carrier frequency data Standard lab testing through LabCorp or Quest, roughly 50 to 200 dollars Food sources of folate named on the show: dark leafy greens, asparagus, eggs, beef liver Watch and read Watch this episode on YouTube: @dialedinhealth Full transcript and episode page: dialedin.health Find a vetted provider: dialedin.health/the-directory If this helped Follow Dialed In Health wherever you listen, and leave a rating and a review. Reviews are how the next person searching for a straight answer finds this show. Then do one more thing: send this episode to the person who came to mind while you were listening. Are you a health or wellness provider who wants to be on the show? The application link is on dialedin.health. This episode is educational and informational only. It is not medical advice and it is not a substitute for evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment by a licensed provider. Talk to your own provider before starting, stopping, or changing any supplement, especially if you are pregnant or trying to conceive.