Methylation Adaptogens

You may have heard the term "adaptogens" in regard to adrenal health. These seemingly miraculous substances help your body to adapt, either increasing or decreasing your stress hormone production depending on your need and baseline status. It turns out, there are adaptogens in other realms as well, and one of the most important could be methylation adaptogens.

What are Methylation Adaptogens?

Methylation is important for many bodily functions that are constantly in process, but one of the most difficult to assess and change is methylation in your epigenome (if you're really fancy, you can call this the "methylome"). Remember that a part of your epigenetics, or the way lifestyle factors affect your DNA, is methylating genes. Methylated genes are turned off, while unmethylated genes remain active or turned on. This is part of how your body limits the impact of potentially harmful genes, like cancer-promoting genes, or maximizes the impact of potentially helpful genes, such as tumor suppressor genes.

The issue with genetic methylation is that it is also affected by nutritional status, early life socioeconomic status, and childhood stressors. Once applied to genes, the methylated tags may not be re-evaluated or removed for months, years, or even your lifetime. This was shown in a recent study that demonstrated that gene methylation can be heritable, meaning some of the methylation tags on your genes could be passed to your genetic children because they are so durable and long-lasting. That's great news if you've methylated the right genes, but what if you haven't?

The day-to-day things we take to support methylation function like L-5MTHF or riboflavin, methionine, or vitamin D may have an effect on your methylome, or the way your genes are methylated. But, the research is more definitive about the gene-methylation effects of specific biological compounds called methylation adaptogens.

When you think about an adaptogen, it can be helpful to picture an automatic thermostat. If the room gets too hot, the thermostat kicks in and cools things off. If it's too cool, then the thermostat sends signals to warm things up. It isn't a one-way signal; it's a balancing factor. With methylation adaptogens, they are helping to balance the levels of methylation on your DNA, so that areas that are hypermethylated, or have too many segments turned off, can be re-engaged and areas that are hypomethylated, or running out of control, can be reigned in.

Cancer cells have been shown to generally have a lower overall genome methylation rate than normal cells, with a radically altered methylation pattern, and the hypermethylation of normally unmethylated promoter CGIs or the global hypomethylation of DNA may be considered a hallmark of cancer.

• Bouyahya A, Mechchate H, Oumeslakht L, Zeouk I, Aboulaghras S, Balahbib A, Zengin G, Kamal MA, Gallo M, Montesano D, El Omari N. The Role of Epigenetic Modifications in Human Cancers and the Use of Natural Compounds as Epidrugs: Mechanistic Pathways and Pharmacodynamic Actions. Biomolecules. 2022 Feb 25;12(3):367. doi: 10.3390/biom12030367. PMID: 35327559; PMCID: PMC8945214.

Methylation Adaptogens in Your Food

Like many of the most beneficial compounds, methylation adaptogens can be found in significant amounts in food. There is significant overlap in the foods that are considered to be especially high in antioxidants, anti-aging compounds, and that are generally referred to as "superfoods." Including two to three servings of these foods daily can help to boost your ability to adapt and normalize your methylome, which may have the most significant impact on your long term health and disease risk of any action we can take with methylation.

Compounds that show methylation adaptogen properties:

• Caffeic acid - from coffee, wine, apples, berries, cabbage, other cruciferous veggies.

• Lycopene - from tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit, papayas, red bell peppers.

• Genesteine - edamame, tofu, tempeh, roasted soybean, miso paste, kidney beans, chickpeas.

• Resveritrol - Skins of grapes, especialy dark-red. Red wine, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, peanuts, cranberries, cocoa.

• Hesperidin - Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, especially in the white part of the peel, peppermint, onions.

• Vitamin D - Fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackeral, sardines, egg yolk, liver, fortified foods like milk and milk substitutes.

• Methionine - High protein foods like meat, fish, dairy, eggs, nuts.

Methylation Adaptogens - Long Term Disease Prevention

Balancing methylation day-to-day helps you feel better in the moment and regulates moods, energy, and even helps with longer-term issues like fertility. In terms of disease prevention, however, especially cancer prevention, methylation adaptogens may be our most promising resource. That doesn't mean your folate and B12 don't matter, it just means that they should be paired with a health diet that incorporates healthy proteins that just happen to be high in methionine, a methylation adaptogen, and lots of fruits and vegetables that can provide antioxidants and other methylation adaptogens like resveratrol, hesperidin, and lycopene. Plus, a nice cup of coffee, happily filled with caffeic acid to get the day started right. Always remember your diet as a crucial piece of your MTHFR journey, because we don't just want your day-to-day to feel better, we want your whole life to be better.