Video

Transcript

let’s talk about the difference between

folic acid and I’m talking about the

synthetic version of vitamin B9

as well as folate the natural version

are they the same you know so many women

when they’re pregnant they start taking

a prenatal that is just loaded up with

this synthetic folic acid and there’s a

lot of data to show that that can help

prevent things like neural tube defects

which is an incomplete closure of the

spinal column and so it’s true it does

do that but with more and more people

recognizing that they may have a

mutation with a certain Gene that

relates to B9 I think we should talk

about it there’s a very common problem

with a gene that is called

MTHFR it involves an enzyme in

converting folic acid into the active

form so your body can use it so if you

have a problem with this Gene your

ability to get this active form of B9 is

greatly inhibited and if you end up

taking this synthetic version version

which called folic acid you can have a

lot of problems because it can

accumulate as

unmetabolized folic acid now it probably

is not going to become a problem unless

you take large amounts but the fact that

if you have this mutation you’re going

to be deficient so there’s this delicate

balance of getting just the right amount

of this B9 because here’s the thing B9

actually does a lot of things it

protects against the initiation of

cancer

because B9 helps to protect the DNA

against problems with the code and if

you have just the right amount of B9 it

can protect this damage within the DNA

that can potentially then lead to cancer

B9 also is involved in the initiation

of new cancer cells that sounds like

it’s kind of conflicting on one hand it

prevents the initiation of new cancer

cells but on the other hand it can

actually help grow this cancer cells but

based on the data that I read it’s

really when you have way too much of

this folic acid so this complicates

things because with this mutation you

need more than you normally should have

yet you don’t want to get too much so

the solution of to this problem is to

take a type of B9 that doesn’t have to

be converted okay it doesn’t require

this enzyme so in other words this

mutation is a no issue why because it’s

ready to be used and can be easily

absorbed in the body

and that is called methylfolate and

there’s other long names for it but

basically it’s a type of B9 that’s

easily absorbed and it doesn’t require

these other enzyme reactions like the

synthetic folic acid now sometimes

you’ll hear reports and studies that

show that regardless of this mutation

you still need to take this synthetic

folic acid to prevent neural tube

defects because there is no studies

comparing the synthetic folic acid to

this methyl folate and that’s true and

they’re not going to do studies because

to do that on humans right it’s too

dangerous it’s too unethical so it’s not

going to be done so you’re just going to

have to use common sense if you even if

you compare these two versions of B9

it’s going to be more effective for you

to get enough B9 in your blood using the

methyl folate version the other thing is

if you have this mutation there’s some

studies to show that if you’re taking

way too much synthetic folic acid or the

mother’s taking way too much that can

increase the risk of autism by a factor

of 17 x and the synthetic folic acid

cannot fix this mutated Gene in fact it

can block the natural version of folate

and potentially increase your risk of

getting cancer so that being said the

question is how do I make sure I’m not

getting too much of this synthetic

version well unfortunately it’s put in

our food supply it’s as part of the

fortification for all cereals okay that

kids eat also adults it’s used in all

the breads the pasta the cereal the

crackers the biscuits the energy drinks

a lot of the synthetic vitamins as well

as fortified nutritional yeast that’s

why I always recommend to get the

unfortified version of that even more

importantly is to start to consume the

foods that are high in this natural B9

which is consuming more dark leafy green

vegetables the last point I want to

bring up is that if a person has this

genetic problem and they’re taking a lot

of folic acid to prevent let’s see

anemia

or some other problem what can happen is

they can end up camouflaging a B12

deficiency because B9 and b12 work

together and that can create problems

with an increase of something else that

I want to kind of just summarize very

simply it’s called homocysteine

homocysteine is a bad compound that can

increase your risk of getting

heart attacks and strokes and

homocysteine also affects the inside of

the artery the endothelial tissue it

inhibits this nitric oxide that then can

cause you to have high blood pressure

and create all sorts of problems but

it’s not just a problem inside your

heart it can affect other areas as well

because if there’s a diminished nitric

oxide you can end up with erectile

dysfunction now since we’re on this

topic if you have not seen my video on

B12 that would be the next video to

watch check it out