C677T and A1298C Mutations

I recently took a MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) test (from Spectracell Laboratories) to find out that I have one copy of the C677T mutation (heterozygous) and am negative for the A1298C mutation.  My husband took this test and found out he is heterozygous for both mutations.  This is a genetic mutation, so if you have it, it's likely one of your parents has it too -- possibly your siblings.

There are a number of webpages devoted to these mutations, however the short and sweet of it is that (at least for my situation) my body is running at 60% normal activity in regards to enzyme activity.  This enzyme is involved in the metabolism of folate and homocysteine.

Basically is means that your body isn't working the way it should, and to help it you need to do a couple of things.  Specifically you need to supplement with the right folate and B-vitamins.

Most B-complex, multi-vits, and individual B vitamin supplements will end up being the wrong kind for you, if you have these mutations.  What are the right kind?  The kind with the word "methyl" in front of them.  For the multi-vitamin I take, which I mentioned in the previous post, it has both methylcobalamin (the right kind of B12) and L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (the right kind of folate).


Then, for the B-complex vitamin I take:



It also has the right kind of B12 and folate.  Both of these brands of vitamins were recommended to me by my naturopath.

Bumps on your Arms

For as long as I can remember I've had these bumps on the outer side of my upper arms.  It felt like I had goosebumps permanently on my upper arms.  And it looked like all the hair follicles had something hard sticking out of them.

I inadvertently got rid of these bumps awhile back, much to my surprise!!  One day I just noticed they were gone!   A few days after noticing it was gone I was reading Kate Rheaume-Bleue's book:





and saw it written up.  It's called follicular hyperkeratosis, and even has it's own wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperkeratosis).  Both the wiki and her book says that it's due to a vitamin A deficiency.  It just so happens that a week or two before I read that entry in her book I started taking cod liver oil, which has a lot of vitamin A in it.

Back when I discovered this I was taking Sprouts generic brand of Cod Liver Oil.  I have since stopped taking cod liver oil and now get my A through a multi-vitamin, here:


This multi-vitamin has 10,000IU of Vitamin A, 50% as mixed carotenoids and 50% as retinyl acetate.  I've been taking this multi-vitamin for a year or more now and do well on it.

This all was quite a surprise to me, as I always thought those bumps were irritating, but didn't think they were indicative of any sort of problem or deficiency.  It just shows how people live with a problem for so long that they start to think it is normal.  Well, now I know that our bodies work perfectly with the right nutrients.  And even something as annoying as bumps on your arms is a sign that your body isn't working at 100%.

Life is better without bumps on my arms....