L-Methylfolate:  A Gray-matter Nutrigenomic

                                                                                                by Daniel D. Lelong, M.S., B.S. (psychology), Mensan 

L-methylfolate, or L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (or 5-MTHF), is the fourth-generation molecule for dietetic folate delivery, and has certain unique properties with very strong implications for psychology.  L-methylfolate can be thought of as a vastly-improved form of folic acid.  L-methylfolate is a naturally-occurring, over-the-counter, non-stigmatic B vitamin capable, according to the science, of preventing and healing symptoms of myriad genetically-predisposed brain disorders, including age-related cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, autism, bipolar disorder, dementia, depression, Parkinson’s, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizoid syndromes, and vascular dementia, plus other diseases of the brain and lower body.  Per the science, many cases of military PTSD may be successfully prevented, even healed, at the mess and field-ration (MRE) levels.  Dietary L-methylfolate prevents and heals cerebrocortical emaciation in human beings, such as can be caused by either of two ubiquitous genetic mutations called MTHFR C677T and A1298C, which act, by altering folate metabolism, like lowest common denominators for many diseases.  Those particular mutations express as an intestinal defect which, in turn, predisposes many secondary diseases – of the brain as well as of the lower body.  This article, a resource website not a doctoral thesis, primarily focuses on cognitive effects of those commonplace genetic traits:  MTHFR C677T and A1298C.  An A1298C mutation can also, like a C677T, contribute to a methylation problem and its many symptoms.  A C677T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP or snip) would hamper folate methylation worse than an A1298C snip, but both of those two MTHFR SNPs interfere rather badly with nourishment of high-order gray-matter neurons, and with human healthspans.  It is probably not an exaggeration to say that dietary L-methylfolate, ingestible to treat capillary-intensive cognitive, cardiovascular, reproductive, or diabetic symptoms of the rampant MTHFR C677T and A1298C methylation-error genetic snips, may be the biggest nutritional discovery of the past one-hundred years!  

Water-soluble folate, also known as vitamin B9, must be present in the human body for DNA/RNA protein recombination, for myelin sheath formation, and for cellular mitosis – i.e., for cell division, cell replication, and organ growth.  Methyl ions exist chemically as CH3, and their reactions occur more than one billion times per second in the human body.  Methylation inhibits gene expression of virally-inserted DNA, and prunes tangled neurons.  Folate occurs in green leafy vegetables, and must be present for capillary and circulatory-system health.  Adelle Davis, the renowned 1960s-era nutritionist, wrote that folate deficiency constitutes the worst nutritional problem afflicting the population of the United States.  Physicians recommend folate to pregnant women, to prevent spina bifida- and cleft palate-causing neural tube defects within their babies.  L-methylfolate is a superior folate supplement to folic acid, for many ladies, which helps them conceive and gestate more-consistently healthy infants.  One should take note, however, that chronic overdosage with L-methylfolate can cause temporary, reversible joint pain.  A medical doctor once confided to me that, in her opinion, 15mg/day of methylfolate is the ideal dose.  I wouldn’t very much exceed that, for any great span of time.

The abbreviation ‘MTHFR C677T’ derives from the acronym for the small intestine-produced enzyme ‘methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase’ (MTHFR), plus ‘one cytosine (C) nucleotide base replaced by one thymine (T) nucleotide base, at position 677 of the human MTHFR gene.’  Hence, MTHFR C677T.  Similarly, the A1298C snip’s name derives from the acronym, ‘One adenine (A) nucleotide base replaced by one cytosine (C) nucleotide base, at position 1298 of the human MTHFR gene.’  (The four DNA nucleotide bases are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T).)  Those two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, or snips) effect human folate-methylation abnormalities.  For C677T, the notation CC means ‘no mutation present;’ CT, ‘one chromosome of the two has the snip;’ or, TT, ‘both chromosomes have the trait.’  For A1298C, the corresponding chromosomal notation is AA, ‘no mutation present’; AC, ‘one chromosome is mutated’; or CC, ‘both are mutated.’  L-methylfolate is an odorless, tasteless, white, organic solid at standard temperature and pressure, with a molecular mass of 459.46 g/mol, and a melting point  >  3000C.  Cells depend upon capillaries; capillary formation and cell division are contingent upon folate.  In this relatively-new science, the human genome is estimated to contain between 20,000 to 25,000 genes, with about six-billion nucleotide bases arrayed across man’s 23 chromosomes as nearly three-billion nucleotide-base pairs.

Girl in a jacket

Brain-wise, the ubiquitous MTHFR C677T and A1298C snips would be gray matter-starvation traits, long before they ever become dementia traits!  Those two MTHFR snips work like lowest common denominators against cognitive health, predisposing a human’s brain to numerous secondary diseases, injuries, and insults, while gradually effecting cerebrospinal emaciation.  The MTHFR C677T and A1298C traits chronically malnourish, across man’s blood-brain barrier (BBB), one specific, crucial bodily organ:  high-order gray-matter nervous system cells in the human cerebrocortex and spinal cord.  From young childhood, MTHFR snips starve a man’s 3mm- to 5mm-thick neocortex of the naturally-occurring nutrient L-methylfolate – gradually emaciating and atrophying his cerebrocortical and spinal-cord gray matter, and predisposing him to myriad diseases.  Those DNA snips cause an intestinal defect which often results in secondary brain disease, apart from dietary L-methylfolate supplementation to ameliorate, one day at a time, MTHFR C677T- and A1298C-caused cerebrospinal folate starvation.  

As activated vitamin B9 and a foodstuff, L-methylfolate is nutrigenomic in action, not pharmaceutic, thus, supplementation with it does not imply medication of a stigmatizing mental defect.  MTHFR mutations (which are determined for life at conception) would be as real and true of a person’s big-toe cells’ DNA as of his brain cells’ DNA, but express as an intestinal defect rather than, directly, as a mental problem.  Eventual neocortical emaciation would thus be a secondary consequence of disorder.  Absorptive cells in the bristle-brush region of man’s small intestine produce the enzyme MTHFR which methylates crude folates into L-methylfolate; but, considerably less so, for folks who have more of an MTHFR snip.  The question becomes, ‘Do the absorptive small intestine cells of any given human body produce enough chemical moles of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase to synthesize sufficient molecular mass of 5-MTHF to anabolize, rather than to starve and atrophy, that body’s gray-matter neocortex and spinal cord?’  Methylfolate anabolizes neocortical and spinal-cord capillaries and neurons, promoting healthy gray-matter neuron mass, and thus does more lasting good than if it briefly reacted like a rapidly-excreted stimulant, such as caffeine with sugar.  L-methylfolate directly stimulates production, in the brain, of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.  Addressing the same gene expression, many traditional prescription psychiatric drugs methylate genes, as a secondary or tertiary action.  According to the literature, L-methylfolate vitamin B9 supplementation can help prevent and heal numerous brain diseases and mental illnesses.

Absorptive cells of the human small intestine make an enzyme that nourishes high-order neurons and prevents brain disease, but a genetic intestinal defect impedes production of that enzyme and, thus, emaciates gray matter.  Persons’ bodies with the MTHFR C677T or A1298C folic-acid non-methylation genetic errors produce less of this enzyme (MTHFR) and, thus, less academically-competitive masses of L-methylfolate, the folate end-product naturally synthesized by the human body from folic acid and other crude folates.  Their bodies don’t adequately metabolize their diets into sufficient brain food – that’s where L-methylfolate vitamin B9 supplementation comes in!  The ubiquitous MTHFR C677T and/or A1298C genetic mutations interfere with synthesis, by bristle-brush absorptive cells of human beings’ small intestines, of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), which is instrumental in natural-folate and folic-acid methylation.  A human body which has an MTHFR C677T and/or an A1298C snip on one, or both, of its two chromosomes doesn’t make enough of this enzyme and, thus, doesn’t make enough L-methylfolate for that man’s cerebrospinal, cognitive-development needs. 

From the literature, it is clearly evident that less of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase in human beings strongly correlates to more brain diseases and mental illnesses – very probably, for instance, due to an MTHFR snip causing deficient L-methylfolate synthesis from crude folates.  Such persons tend to suffer malnourished neocortical gray matter and insufficient cerebrospinal mitosis.  People with this DNA snip (single nucleotide polymorphism) make less MTHFR in their intestines and thus make less endogenous L-methylfolate, transport less 5-MTHF across their BBBs, have lower spinal-fluid levels of this vitamin, and thereby chronically malnourish their gray matter, over time emaciating their brains, causing neurasthenia (< Gr., weak nerves), and motivating compensatory overeating.  Dietary doses of 5-MTHF (L-methylfolate) successfully bypass a deficient five-step enzymatic folate-methylation process to directly nourish struggling, high-order, human gray matter and, thereby, strengthen and encourage the noic, psychological inner man who thinks with it.  It’s worth repeating:  MTHFR snips cause gray-matter brain starvation in human beings not, directly, insanity in us.  Gray-matter emaciation, as a secondary side effect, can then itself cause cognitive deficits and related mental problems.

This explanation of dietary L-methylfolate’s prevention of MTHFR mutation-caused folate starvation in human neocortical and spinal-cord gray matter, by uniquely – amongst folates – crossing our blood-brain barriers (BBBs), is my original line of reasoning, a gradual eureka! of scientific inference and deduction.  MTHFR deficiency starves, of folate, tissue on the other side of man’s BBB:  namely, gray-matter neurons.  I didn’t read this as anybody else’s conclusion, nor was I taught it.  Although there is more to L-methylfolate’s activity than that it is the only type of folate able to cross man’s BBB (a property that’s explicitly corroborated in the Bibliography, below, by Carolyn Ledowsky on brain folate, by M. Levitt et al, by Richard C. Shelton et al, and by Wikipedia’s overview of L-methylfolate – aka levomefolic acid), that particular action of 5-MTHF is true in its simplicity.  My interest piqued via personal experience, then from reading the literature, I reasoned:  that folate is essential to capillary development and cell division; that man’s gray-matter neocortex is on the outside of his brain’s BBB; but, that only L-methylfolate, not any crude folate, transports across the human BBB.  Thus, that ubiquitous MTHFR snips specifically starve man’s gray-matter neocortex and spinal cord of crucial folate and methyl ions, by interfering with his body’s enzymatic L-methylfolate synthesis.  The result:  compromised cognition.  MTHFR snips’ limitations on small-intestinal methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase production, and on concomitant enzymatic reduction of natural and synthetic folates into L-methylfolate, inexorably across time emaciate and atrophy man’s neocortical and spinal-cord gray matter, endangering his reason and thus his psyche.  Other body parts would have more-or-less normal folate metabolism, but healthspan-crucial cerebrospinal gray matter, across BBB tissue, would be chronically malnourished – e.g., the neuronal nuclei and dendrites mostly outside of man’s crowning cerebral BBB and inside of his tubular, spinal BBB.  And, that that is true, lifelong unless dietarily mediated, day-by-day, for about 40% to 60% of the world’s human population.

From conception and through no fault of their own, nearly 60% of the human race has either the MTHFR C677T or A1298C genetic trait, or both – on one or both chromosomes – interfering with intestinal MTHFR-enzyme synthesis.  In the case of C677T, that particular snip causes people to underproduce that enzyme, resulting in either approximately 70%-efficient folate methylation (if their chromosomes are heterozygous for that MTHFR mutation) or about 40%-efficient folate methylation (if they’re homozygous for it).  In those cases, body parts other than gray-matter neurons enjoy relatively-normal folate metabolism, but man’s brain and spinal cord gradually starve and emaciate.  Heterozygosity (C677T or A1298C) would mean that one chromosome has an MTHFR mutation and the other chromosome doesn’t.  Homozygosity (T677T or C1298C) for the mutation would mean that both chromosomes have the trait.  Homozygosity (C677C or A1298A), for not having an MTHFR snip on either chromosome, would mean abundant MTHFR production, as well as lower risk for genetically-predisposed disorders like vascular dementia, senescent cognitive decline, schizoid syndromes, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Parkinson’s, depression, dementia, bipolar disorder, autism, and Alzheimer’s, plus other brain diseases and cognitive impairments.  The enzyme in question is methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), naturally produced by absorptive cells in the bristle-brush region of the human small intestine.  MTHFR is the L-methylfolate-precursor enzyme.  The MTHFR enzyme uniquely methylates crude folates into L-methylfolate, for BBB transit.  

All crude folates require reductive (electron-additive) methylation into the water-soluble B-vitamin L-methylfolate, to be capable of crossing the human blood-brain barrier (BBB).  Neither oxidized synthetic folate (i.e., folic acid) nor any other unmethylated natural folate crosses the human BBB; only reduced folate (L-methylfolate) crosses the BBB.  Folic acid, which was first synthesized by chemists in the 1940s, is an artificial oxidized form of folate which requires a five-step enzymatic conversion process in the human body to methylate it into 5-MTHF, to thereby become able to cross man’s BBB.  L-methylfolate is the trans-BBB-capable form of folate; it’s the bioactive analog of folic acid.  MTHFR snips hamper normal brain-nourishing enzymatic reductive methylation of crude folates, elevate bloodstream levels of artery-scarring homocysteine, cripple L-glutathione-metabolism’s excretion of toxic heavy metals, worsen diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and genetically predispose infertility, neural tube defects, and miscarriages.  

Unlike the crude folate folic acid, L-methylfolate crosses the human blood-brain barrier (BBB) to nutrigenomically nourish man’s gray-matter cerebrocortex on the outside of it.  In every person, only activated folate (methylfolate or 5-MTHF), not synthetic folic acid or any unmethylated natural folate, crosses the BBB to nutrigenomically nourish cerebrocortical gray matter.  But, about one-half of the world’s population doesn’t competitively methylate folic acid (or other crude folates) into activated L-methylfolate, due to their bodies’ DNA having an MTHFR snip. Their bodies produce sub-optimal masses of methylfolate, to cross their BBBs and develop their gray matter.  The bodies of about one-half of the earth’s human population naturally synthesize STEM-competitive weights of methylfolate from raw folates, and the other half’s more-or-less don’t, but all human beings’ gray-matter central nervous systems (CNSs) need active L-methylfolate from either endogenous or exogenous sources.  Each human being has between 3mm and 5mm of gray matter as the outer layer, the neocortex, of his brain, separated from the rest of his brain by his BBB.  One millimeter of high-order gray matter corresponds to much of the difference between a working career as a professional scientist or engineer, and that of a laborer.  Thicker healthier gray matter corresponds to a clearer, truer mind’s eye.  Mammals have gray matter in their brains and spines, with humans and dolphins having the most.  Reptiles and lower life forms have no gray matter.

Many instances of teenage drug abuse may derive from a subconscious desire to self-medicate cognitive symptoms of these two latent MTHFR snips, or to become the life of the party and thereby destigmatize primal dread of dementia.  Many young people with an MTHFR snip despair of intellectual virtuosity, then individuate their developing egos according to collective radicalism instead of to mental subject-objectivity and to creative, lucrative scientific knowledge.  Not to condone drug abuse, but sometimes, it’s ‘One may not have a mental problem because he took drugs; it may be that he took drugs in futile hope of inoculating himself against genetic gray-matter starvation and its negative implications to his future intellect.  A cognitive problem would probably have occurred anyway, eventually.’  Similar motivation may apply to some who are ensnared into Eastern-meditative mind-control disciplines.  Abundant MTHFR supports high-order gray-matter neurons and, thus, strengthens one’s conscious mind (Gr., nous, “nooce”), psyche, and ego.  One duty of conscientious ego is to modulate one’s adult human radicality.  Too often, valuable academic cognitive knowledge becomes compromised by illicit, vitality-sapping carnal knowledge.  Early detection plus dietary 5-MTHF supplementation, to treat MTHFR mutations’ symptoms, will help reverse those problematic trends in our youths!  Provided sufficient nutrition, the human psyche and genome can steadily compensate for past shortcomings. 

Gray-matter methylation can have a holistic effect, startlingly noticeable after prolonged depletion.  Man’s gray matter-to-body mass ratio factors into his appearance and bearing, as revealed to an artist’s eye and to his own body image – something like ( I.Q. / B.M.I. ) – a cosmetic psychology? Chiropractors, essentially, adjust spines to align the same gray matter that’s starved by an MTHFR snip.   In the three-billion-odd human beings affected by MTHFR snips, body parts other than gray-matter neurons experience relatively-normal folate metabolism, but crucial brain and spinal-cord gray-matter nerve cells, protected by blood-brain barrier (BBB) tissue, gradually starve, emaciate, and atrophy – warping body image, prompting compensatory gluttony, and inviting dementia.  Concerning folate, the BBB does its work almost too well in folks with an MTHFR snip(s).  In humans with an MTHFR snip(s), body parts not protected behind the BBB membrane enjoy more-or-less normal folate metabolism, but healthspan-critical cerebrospinal gray matter would be chronically malnourished, and incrementally starve and atrophy.  Human neocortical gray matter’s development depends substantially upon methylated folates.  Human gray-matter development is limited in part by methylfolate levels, which are themselves formed by small-intestinal bristle-brush-region MTHFR production, which is, itself, attenuated by any MTHFR C677T or A1298C snip.  Methylfolate synthesis is limited, in about 40% to 60% of the world’s population, by MTHFR mutations (C677T and A1298C).  The entire human spinal cord contains high-order gray matter (protected behind tubular BBB tissue), which plays a vital role in psychological, egoic grace.  Gray matter consists mostly of neuronal nuclei and complex dendrites, while white matter consists of elongated axons, encased within insulating myelin sheathing.  Gray-matter emaciation skews the neocortical-consciousness to limbic system-consciousness attention ratio in favor of limbic system awareness – causing a propensity for radicalized (< L., radix, root) mental confusion.  The midbrain’s limbic system is the most-heavily metaled organ in the human body, highlighting it to radical, cherubic Nature.  

Almost from human embryonic conception, any MTHFR mutations hinder natural neuroanabolic methylation of folic acid and raw folates into active L-methylfolate, predispose neocortex-emaciating neurasthenia, and correlate to a wide variety of genetically-predisposed brain disorders, including age-related cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, autism, bipolar disorder, depression, Parkinson’s, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia-like syndromes, and vascular dementia.  Seventy percent of depressives have the MTHFR C677T genetic error.  Such depressives may eat extra to nourish their neocortical gray-matter intellects, but to limited avail.  Methylfolate has startlingly effective results on depressives with a body-mass index of 30 or greater.  MTHFR genetic errors are not, themselves, a mental illness.  MTHFR C677T and A1298C act like lowest common denominators for multiple brain disorders, effecting gradual-onset cerebrospinal starvation, emaciation, and dementia by interfering with L-methylfolate synthesis.  Vascular dementia, for example, results from attenuated folate-dependent cerebral capillary development which opposes even exercise-propelled blood-circulatory hyperperfusion.  But, for pennies worth of this activated vitamin B (L-methylfolate) per day, many of those diseases may be delayed in onset, decreased in severity, or prevented altogether, given timely treatment.

The B-vitamin 5-methyltetrahydrofolate provides CH3 methyl ions and vitamin-B9 folate to gray-matter neocortical brain cells and spinal-cord cells situated across man’s BBB, nourishing human gray matter for healthy mitosis and capillary development.  Across the BBB, cerebral neurons and capillaries require folate, and gray-matter genes need methylation. Methylfolate supplies human bodies with both.  Methylfolate dosage should be scaled to protein intake and to growth spurts, but L-methylfolate is a water-soluble B-vitamin that’s normally well tolerated.  Care should be taken, however, to not chronically overdose with L-methylfolate, since doses on the order of 45+ mg/day, for many days, may cause reversible joint pain.  One ought not eat L-methylfolate like candy.  If one feels joint discomfort, then lower the vitamin’s dosage and the pain should abate.  The ideal dose of methylfolate is probably between 5mg/day and 15mg/day, with one medical doctor I talked to recommending the latter.  The most common complaint about L-methylfolate is, ‘Why didn’t I know about this years ago?’  For the three-billion-plus people with MTHFR snips, daily low-dose 5-methyltetrahydrofolate can act like a quality-of-life game changer and help them to think and know via cognitive intelligence, not only emotionally, viscerally, and radically.  My nickname for L-methylfolate is ‘the psychological vitamin’ – no pun intended – with a psychological vitamin being something that improves morale, but with 5-MTHF additionally being the vitamin B9 variant that helps develop and heal the human brain.  For the billions of people around the world with an MTHFR genetic snip, daily dietary over-the-counter L-methylfolate can act like both a brain-healing food and a morale builder – a true psychological vitamin! 

L-methylfolate and its significance have fairly recently been discovered, and the vitamin has been synthesized in scale and economically marketed only since about 2012, A.D., but it now enjoys increasing availability over-the-counter from a variety of suppliers in health food stores and over the internet.   The widespread MTHFR C677T genetic error causes worse health troubles for populations of industrialized, first-world countries, due to their greater emphases upon intellectual employment.  Nutrigenomic 5-MTHF comprises the cheapest-best nutrient imaginable to improve the quality of life for multiple billions of individuals, mostly for people of European or Oriental descent.  The  MTHFR C677T genetic mutation occurs at a slightly-higher rate among Ashkenazi Jewish than among some Gentile populations.  Some scientists estimate that as many as 60% of the population of the human race has an MTHFR genetic mutation (C677T or A1298C, or both, on one or both chromosomes), with a concomitant need for methylfolate supplementation to develop and sustain intelligent and competitive health, thickness, and robustness of their brains’ gray-matter cerebrocortices.

Soldiers whose genomes contain an MTHFR C677T or A1298C snip are at worse risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Methylfolated military rations (MREs) would decrease the frequency and severity of PTSD among our combat troops.  Delicious methylfolated food portions would make perfect additions to school lunches, to military messes and rations (MREs), and to assisted-living, dining-hall, disaster-aid, home food-delivery, hospital, mental-ward, prison, rehab-unit, and other institutional foodstuffs provisions.  Suppliers’ addition of L-methylfolate to flour supplies, in place of currently-added synthetic folic acid, would raise the United States’ average intelligence quotient and lower our brain-related health-care costs.   Methylfolation of flour supplies would not create a utopia on earth, but can make human societies much less dystopic. 

MTHFR gene snips withhold L-methylfolate and alter the distribution of nutrient folate, denying it to man’s cerebrospinal neurons across his somatic BBB then gradually emaciating his gray matter, proportionate to the rest of his body.  The voluntary remedy, to treat the symptoms, is to add methylfolate to one’s daily diet, scaled to protein intake and to growth spurts.  Only methylfolate (but not folic acid or other crude folate) crosses man’s BBB.  I’d love to read another score of new double-blind scientific research studies relating the MTHFR C677T and A1298C single nucleotide polymorphisms, crude folates, L-methylfolate, the human BBB, and gray-matter cerebrocortical functioning to cognitive health and intellectual abilities.  This excellent science is fraught with vast hope, for multiple billions of people!

With L-methylfolate, we can treat symptomatic cerebrospinal gray-matter emaciation but MTHFR single nucleotide polymorphisms (snips), themselves, are determined for any given genome at conception and are deemed irreversible in a biological lifespan.  Other side effects of MTHFR snips include worsened artery-scarring L-homocysteine levels, slower toxic metals excretion, greater risk of infertility, neural tube defects, and miscarriage, and worse propensity for diabetic peripheral neuropathy.  Health science of L-methylfolate to treat MTHFR snips ought to become common knowledge to families, school teachers, academic administrators, and guidance counselors, and intrinsic to scholastic pursuits, with 5-MTHF cheaply available, over-the-counter (OTC), on drugstore, grocery, and convenience-store shelves. 

L-methylfolate, to treat symptoms of MTHFR C677T and A1298C, represents a paradigm leap in cognitive psychology (arguably the purest branch of the science) and in preventative psychiatry, and can greatly enhance cognition, academic performance, and lifelong learning for vast segments of the populace.  Nutrigenomic methylfolate can help students ardently transforming academic mediocrity into prestigious science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) careers, adults maximizing their potential as individuals, senior citizens urgent to prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s, and mental-health clients striving for recovery without relapse.  Methylfolated foodstuffs can produce smarter children, raise the national IQ, extend adults’ healthspans, and lower incidences of PTSD, all without adversely affecting people whose biological bodies were conceived as MTHFR C677C or A1298A, free of a mutated MTHFR gene.  For the multiple billions of human beings with an MTHFR DNA snip (a single nucleotide polymorphism), dietary methylfolate supplementation can be a real game changer, with potentially-dramatic benefits to memory, concentration, cognitive stamina, logical reasoning, and subject-object dualism – and, thus, to mankind’s individual egos!

The B-vitamin L-methylfolate, ingested to treat MTHFR snips’ deleterious limitations upon human gray matter, proffers sweeping bright pediatric, pedagogic, androgogic, geriatric, and psychiatric hope.  For about half of the human race, L-methylfolate can help men’s brains to live in health as long as do the rest of their bodies, via a nutrigenomic second wind!  This Nobel Prize-quality science, that of methylfolate to treat the ubiquitous MTHFR C677T and/or A1298C genetic traits’ starvation effect on human gray matter and cognitive intelligence, comprises an interdisciplinary singularity crying out for merciful largescale applications:  MTHFR genetic mutations malnourish gray matterL-methylfolate supplementation treats that symptom!  The use of dietary L-methylfolate to prevent cerebrospinal symptoms of MTHFR single nucleotide polymorphisms represents an economical, genius solution to many persons’ most-urgent healthspan need.

While surfing the ‘Net to shop for folic acid, up popped an ad for L-methylfolate.  Curious whether this vitamin would help me, I sampled one small bottle of it bought over-the-counter, across a couple of weeks, at a low dose.  My body and soul noticeably liked L-methylfolate, and the vitamin helped my cognition, an effect which I distinctly noticed within that timeframe.  Thus, by inexpensive clinical diagnosis, I learned that my genome has at least one MTHFR snip.  Six months later, I acquired empirical laboratory confirmation by investing in an over-the-counter DNA test kit, then mailed the sample back to its lab for chemical analysis.  Since MTHFR C677T was a pre-existing fact of my body since conception, there was virtually no downside to my finding out about it (other than that my DNA sequence is on file somewhere).  This knowledge dramatically blesses my ego while helping to extend my healthspan!  If one’s genome does not have C677T (or A1298C), then his brain and body may never need 5-MTHF supplementation (although eating it will not hurt him); but, if one does have one-or-both snips on either-or-both chromosome(s), then he should have dietary L-methylfolate, lifelong, for his brain to persevere in health.  If one’s body does have an MTHFR snip, then the younger he starts supplementing with methylfolate (all else equal), the longer in life he will enjoy his gray-matter intellect and its many advantages over the generic radicalized mindset.  How many gifted souls have foundered due to MTHFR-related cognitive decline?

NutriLogic Formulas, L.L.C., my startup company, with its motto “Toward Thoughtful Families!”, purveys hope by producing and selling delicious granola-nut butter cognitive-nutrition Cog Bars and other methylfolated foodstuffs.  MTHFR genetic traits run in families!  Cognitive nutrition bars are my present solution, to resolve this enormous, global-scale need.  The point is that those two MTHFR genetic snips, C677T and A1298C, run in very many mostly European- and Oriental-descent families – resulting in vast room for growth, via cognitive nutrition, for better learning and for attainment of higher hopes.  Cognitive thinking or dystopia – those are the two options facing each family and confronting our civilization.  But, even nutritious healthy NuLoFor Cog Bars, as cogent realia, pale in importance compared to one’s knowledge of one’s own genome and of the lifelong benefits, to billions of individuals, of dietary L-methylfolate.  Purveying hope, NutriLogic Formulas, L.L.C., leads the way for billions of human beings to enjoy better cognitive thinking and quality of life, as well as for equipping children to become better grownups!  “Eat… for strength, and not for drunkenness!” (Ecclesiastes 10:17).  Do some woke enviro-radicals want to depopulate the earth?  Instead, why not provide one’s neighbor with nourishment to grow his, and his family’s, gray matter – and see if they can’t find a smile for you?  MTHFR snips imply family-name genetics, not cosmic karma.  From a theological perspective, diet and nutrition do nothing to improve the status of human sin, but sanctification and glory persist better, across workweeks, for healthy brains and spines.  As a minority voice within psychology, human beings with an MTHFR DNA snip experience worse risk from evil spirits, such as that prey upon those with cognitive infirmity, to tempt them to sin and thus submit them to evil – unto worse and worse trouble.  The battleground is the mind.  Intelligence is solution recognition!

A dilemma that I face, by publishing this science, is that I invite competition for my company.  But, if I suppress this knowledge then I’ll endure constricted markets, supply lines, and venture capital.  The enormous three-billion-plus servings-per-day, week-in week-out, year-upon-year, global market for methylfolated foodstuffs should bear some competition!  “Cog Bars:  Cognitive Nutrition for Better Living!”  NuLoFor receives zero commision for any sale from any supplier hyperlinked below.  Calculating venture capitalists and enthusiastic retail associates may start dialog with me, Dan Lelong, via:  ddlelong@hotmail.com.  This NuLoFor Website is published on the ‘Net at:  www.methylfolate-graymatternutrigenomic.com.

IMPORTANT!    ALL INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS WEBSITE IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF RENDERING MEDICAL ADVICE.  STATEMENTS MADE ON THIS WEBSITE HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE U. S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION.  THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE, OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE – ONLY TO EDUCATE AND STIMULATE SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION.  CONSULT YOUR HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONAL BEFORE EMBARKING ON ANY TREATMENT REGIMEN.

Bibliography:

Leicia Iris de Assuncao Prado, Ana Lucia Junger, Leonardo Ferreira Caixeta, Matias Noll, Cesar de Oliveira, and Erika Aparecida Silveira.  (2023).  “The effects of methylfolate on cognitive decline and dementia: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.”  Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2023 Apr 24, 12(9), 3075.  The Effects of Methylfolate on Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Protocol for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – PMC

Janie A. Bowthorpe.  (2024).  Molecular Psychiatry. 11, 352-360. http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/mthfr 

Lorena Carboni.  (2022).  “Active folate versus folic acid: The role of 5-MTHF (methylfolate) in human health.”  Integrated Medicine, 2022 Jul, 21(3), 36-41.  Active Folate Versus Folic Acid: The Role of 5-MTHF (Methylfolate) in Human Health – PMC (nih.gov)  

Elena A. Christofides, Virginia Valentine.  (2023).  “L-methylfolate in diabetic peripheral neuropathy:  A narrative review.”  Endocrine Practice, 2023 Aug 29, 8, 663-669.  L-Methylfolate in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: A Narrative Review – PubMed (nih.gov)

Suzy Cohen.  (2014).  “Methylation problems lead to 100s of terrible diseases.” http://suzycohen.com/articles/methylation-problems/

William Faloon.  (2015).  “Newly identified risks of excess homocysteine.” Life Extension Magazine. 5/2015. https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2015/5/newly-identified-risks-of-excess-homocysteine

L. L. Huang, J. R. Tong, Y. Huang, Y. N. Wei, H. F. Chen, Y. Chen, J. Y. Su, and L. Deng.  (2023).  “Association of MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism with pregnancy outcome.”  European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Science, 2023, Jan 27(1), 166-171.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36647865/    

Lauren LeBano.  (2013).  “L-methylfolate: A promising therapy for treatment-resistant depression?” L-Methylfolate: A Promising Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression? | Psych Congress Network | HMP Global (hmpgloballearningnetwork.com)

Carolyn Ledowsky.  (2024).  “MTHFR Fertility:  MTHFR C677T and A1298C can cause miscarriages.”  MTHFR Fertility 

Carolyn Ledowsky. (2017)  “5-MTHF in brain folate metabolism.”  Scientific precision of the human brain’s folate metabolism.  Folate and Brain | MTHFR Support Australia

M. Levitt, P. Nixon, J. Pincus, J. Bertino.  (1971).  “Transport characteristics of folates in cerebrospinal fluid: A study utilizing double-labeled 5-methyltetrahydrofolate and 5-formyltetrahydrofolate.”  The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 50, 1301-1308.  JCI71106609.pdf (dm5migu4zj3pb.cloudfront.net)

Lin Wan, Yuhong Li, Zhengrong Zhang, Zuoli Sun, Yi He, and Rena Li.  (2018). “Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and psychiatric diseases.”  Translational Psychiatry, 8, 242.  Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and psychiatric diseases – PMC (nih.gov)

L-methyfolate overview and synopsis.  (2025).   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levomefolic_acid

P. L. Rady, S. K. Tyring, S. D. Hudnall, T. Vargas, L. H. Kellner, H. Nitowsky, R. K. Matalon.  (1999).  “Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR):  the incidence of mutations C677T and A1298C in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.”  American Journal of Medical Genetics, Oct 8; 86(4): 380-4.  Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR): the incidence of mutations C677T and A1298C in the Ashkenazi Jewish population – PubMed (nih.gov)   

Daniel A. Rossignol, Richard E. Frye.  (2021.)  “Cerebral folate deficiency, folate receptor alpha autoantibodies and leucovorin (folinic acid) treatment in autism spectrum disorders:  A systematic review and meta-analysis.”  Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2021, Nov. 3, 11(11), 1141.  Cerebral Folate Deficiency, Folate Receptor Alpha Autoantibodies and Leucovorin (Folinic Acid) Treatment in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – PubMed 

Richard C. Shelton, J. Sloan Manning, Lori W. Ballantyne, Eleanor V. Tipa.  (2013). “Assessing effects of L-methylfolate in depression management:  results of a real-world patient experience trial.” Prim Care Companion CNS DisordAssessing Effects of l-Methylfolate in Depression Management: Results of a Real-World Patient Experience Trial – PMC

Arthur Strand.  (2015).  “Why So Many People Require the Metabolically Active Form of Folic Acid.” Life Extension Magazine. 5/2015, 56-64. https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2015/5/why-so-many-people-require-the-metabolically-active-form-of-folic-acid

Amy Yasko.  (2019).  Nutrigenomics: DNA Methylation Pathway Analysis. Neurological Research Institute. http://www.holistichealth.com  http://www.dramyyasko.com

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A saliva-swab methylation-pathway DNA laboratory test kit for MTHFR snips, at $149.00 from:  www.lifeextension.com/Vitamins-Supplements/itemLC100045/MTHFR-COMT

A second saliva-swab methylation-pathway DNA laboratory test kit for MTHFR snips, at $129.99 from:  MTHFR Test Kit – MTHFR Doctors

Large-denomination L-methylfolate (5mg tablets – 8.5mg dietary folate equivalent [DFE]) – at $5.40 for 30 tabs ($.18 per day, at a 5mg/day dose of 5-MTHF):  High Potency Optimized Folate, 8500 mcg, 30 vegetarian tablets – Life Extension

Larger-denomination L-methylfolate (15mg capsules – 25.5mg dietary folate equivalent [DFE]) – cheapest-best, as inexpensive as $29.99 for 120 caps (about $.25 per day, at a 15mg/day dose of 5-MTHF):  Search: 5 results found for “methylfolate” – Carlyle Nutritionals

Bioactive complete vitamin B-complex capsules formulated with L-methylfolate instead of folic acid (two capsules daily supply 680mcg of 5-MTHF) at $8.00 for 60 capsules (as cheap as $.27 per day):  BioActive Complete B-Complex, 60 capsules – Life Extension 

Broad-spectrum methylated B-complex chewable vitamin gummies (15mg of L-methylfolate per gummie), at $28.99 for 60 gummies (as cheap as $.48 per day): Amazon.com: L-MethylFolate 15mg 7.5mg & B12 1000 mcg Gummies, Methylated B Complex + TMG, Magnesium, Choline – Active 5-MTHF(B9) + Methyl B12, B6, Multivitamin – Support Methylation, Cognition, Mood, Sugar Free : Health & Household 

Nationwide-prolific American medical doctor and author Daniel G. Amen, M.D., a brain specialist who often recommends L-methylfolate as part of his comprehensive mental-health regimen.  Mental Healthcare Clinic Focusing On Your Brain Health | Dr. Amen (amenclinics.com)    Methylfolate | Folate Supplement & Mood Support (brainmd.com) ; (855) 398-1834.

 

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