Hi Reader,

One of the first functional medicine tests that my first doctor ever had me do was a 23&me genetic profile (I wouldn't recommend this now by the way due to privacy concerns).

When I got my results, I started going deep down the rabbit-hole that is the MTFHR gene variant (and yes, it is a funny looking acronym).

It became a little bit crazy how much I was digging into the research, to a point that it became a little bit stressful where I felt like there was nothing that I could do to negate the risk of having this gene variant(more on that at the bottom of this email).

MTFHR stands for 5-10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, an enzyme important for converting inactive folic acid into an active form of folate, methyltetrahydrofolate.

Specific genetic variants in MTFHR (especially C677T) has been associated with: (1, 2)

• Schizophrenia
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Cardiovascular disease
• Cancer
• Inflammatory diseases
• Vascular disease
• Diabetes
• ...and several others

So what does this mean if you have a lesser functioning MTFHR gene?

It essentially means that folks with these variants don't efficiently convert folic acid to methylfolate, so most need to supplement with methylated folate.

However, it's not that simple...and *a lot* of natural/integrative/functional practitioners who are lesser trained in genomics often fall into this trap of not considering someones whole genomic picture and thinking of MTFHR in a vacuum(as I've been saying with other genes)!

Here is a (somewhat dry, sorry) picture that just shows at least three other crucial enzymes that play a role in the cycle MTFHR is involved in(these are not the only other ones to consider though!):

So back to my story for a moment- I'm so glad I went much deeper into genomics through several years of training because I now understand how to tailor my plan (as well as my client's) to consider MTFHR variants as part of a much larger genomic picture, instead of worrying that there was nothing I could do about this(or only looking at MTFHR in a vacuum).

Have you ever heard of this gene before? Curious to hear your thoughts!