I’m seeing a lot more people in clinic with MTHFR mutations, and what I am hearing is that some of the info on the internet is too medical and confusing.. So my aim with this is to really simplify into plain language what inheriting a SNP on this gene may mean for you..
So there are many variants of MTHFR genes- but the two most commonly studied and tested for are known as C677T or A1298C. It gets a bit confusing as each gene SNP can be known by a few different numbers.. For further info you can look it up on SNPedia.
When we have children, they get half of the mums genes, and half of the dads genes. So they become their own version of mum and dad. Let’s go through some of the possible scenarios:
If either mum or dad only had one copy each of those genes, then there would be a chance that baby would also have no copy.. It’s almost like a lottery when we make a baby of what genes they will get from us!! The good news is, through preconception planning and management, you can “silence” the gene expression by ensuring it has all the nutrition it needs to do its job properly!
Here are the possible versions if both Mum and Dad are heterozygous (one copy) C677T
ThTh
The next image explains why your children may be so different in terms of their health and resilience. If both mum and dad are compound heterozygous, the different possibilities for their children are staggering! Including the very rare compound homozygous (2 copies of each mutation)
I hope this sheds some light into the inheritance of this gene.. The way to think of it is as a variation on normal, you are not a mutant and won’t turn into an X-Men type super wierdo, but what you do need to know, is that every day, for your whole life, you need to be diligent about what goes into your mouth, what goes on your skin, how you think/feel and what you are around. but more about that another time!
If you want to book an appointment for a naturopathic consultation, send me a message!!
