Day 312- Methylation for Detoxification

As many of us strive to accomplish our New Year's Resolutions, an important part to many is a period of detox. There are many steps to accomplish a successful detoxification, some of these steps are prevalent in the day-to-day functioning of our bodies that we tend to overlook their importance. An important detoxification step that many may not be aware of is the process called methylation.

Truth is methylation is involved in much more than detoxification, but what exactly is methylation and why is it so important?

Technically, methylation is the subtraction or addition of a methyl group - one carbon and three hydrogen (CH3) to some other molecule. It is a process that happens continuously in your body and is crucial for health. Methlylation is involved in activating serotonin, helping to prevent symptoms such as depression or sleeping disorders. It is important to our cardiovascular health, helping to reduce homocysteine, which in high amounts is not a good thing. Adrenaline must be methylated so that our bodies can wind down so that we are able to rest and sleep instead of becoming anxious and wide a wake during bed time. It is involved in the process that helps to reduce inflammation in the body, making sure that detoxification is working correctly, and the metabolism of hormones; just to name a few.

If you think about it methylation can affect pretty much every part of the body, it will help to put you in a good mood, help your body stay healthy, reduce hormonal issues, and make sure that you get a good nights rest.

So how do you make sure that methylation is up to par in your body? One way is to support it with plenty of B vitamins, especially B12, B6, and Folic acid. You can also check how well methylation is working in your body by a simple homocysteine blood test. Or by making sure your vitamin B status is optimal by asking your practitioner to run a complete blood count (CBC) test, or a methylmalonic acid test which will check your B12 levels. Skip the blood test that checks for folic acid or B12 since these tests are not very accurate and pretty much only reflect recent vitamin intake from food and supplements.

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP