by Paul Fassa
Health Impact News

What some are claiming could be called a super nutrient, or panacea, for many ailments is known as trimethylglycine (TMG) or glycine betaine. TMG was discovered to be beneficial for heart health back in the 1950s because of its ability to reduce high levels of homocysteine, which creates a higher risk for heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.

TMG also contributes to promoting CoQ-10, a heart health coenzyme that hadn’t been discovered until well after the 1950s. But this ability to lower that valid high risk marker for heart disease and promote a heart strengthening co-enzyme are not the only benefits from using TMG.

TMG has recently been used for improving conditions like ulcers, arthritis, leaky gut syndrome, diabetes, kidney and heart failure, neurobehavioral disorders, chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, and even certain cancers. It is useful for slowing the aging process, inducing better sleep, calming nerves, and improving digestion and immunity. (Source)

Methylation: A Complex Action Only Recently Investigated

What is attached to the glycine amino acid is even more important, three methyl groups, each containing three groups of three hydrogen atoms attached to a carbon atom.

Methyl groups are needed to create a process known as methylation. TMG’s structure encourages this molecule to attach to several biochemical compounds that need to be altered in order to be less harmful and more beneficial.

Methylation involves adding methyl groups to other biochemical substances to alter them into safe and beneficial compounds in more balanced amounts. As a supplement, TMG should be taken with co-factors for methylation, which include: vitamin B12, (preferably methylcobalabin B12), vitamins B2, B6, and B9, (which is folic acid).

Try to use folate supplements or folate rich foods such as beans and green leafy vegetables instead of synthetic folic acid, which can accumulate if not fully methylated and become a toxin. Read your supplement labels carefully. A lot of B12 vitamins come with folic acid.

Other supplements that contribute to methylation include choline, zinc, lithium, and of course magnesium. There are some small label nutraceutical sources that provide most of these nutrients in one package.

Methylation treatment is a somewhat recent discovery that is creating a nutritional breakthrough for treating and preventing many malfunctions of biological functions that create low energy, depression, fibromyalgia, heart disease, an inability to remove toxins and heavy metals, and chronic inflammation, a source of diabetes 2 and autoimmune diseases.

But it is a relatively new approach and the methylation process is complex enough to motivate many mainstream physicians to avoid getting involved with it. That doesn’t mean it’s banned. But you may not be able to find a health practitioner with sufficient methylation understanding.

However, one can safely add the necessary supplements along with improving ones diet to incorporate foods that encourage methylation while eliminating foods, mostly the processed stuff, that inhibit methylation.

Dr. Lawrence Wilson is a methylation expert. From his experience, most people are lacking sufficient methylation. TMG carbons are good carbons eager to attach to several different molecules because they are missing one hydrogen atom to be balanced. They need to connect to something.

Here are some of the health issues connected to proper methylation, in addition to being crucial for creating CoQ-10 for heart health. They lower high homocysteine levels by converting homocysteine to SAMe or S-adensylmethionine, an important compound in spinal fluid that fights depression and other mood disorders.

Proper methylation encouraged by TMG enhances the production of important neurological chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, and melatonin. Dopamine deficiency is common among those with debilitating diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Serotonin deficiency is associated with mental and emotional disorders. Low melatonin makes sleep difficult, which causes other health disorders.

It also encourages hormonal production and balance. It protects the telomeres of genes, which if relatively undamaged discourage biological aging. Methylation also stops the production of trophoblast, which can lead to some types of cancer.

Methylation also helps the liver detox toxins, especially heavy metals. It converts lipid encased toxins into liquids, making elimination easier. It also helps produce the master anti-oxidant glutathione.

This unique complex process also supports and protects mitochondria, the energy sources within each cell. This is one reason folks who experience chronic fatigue benefit from TMG enhanced methylation.

Dr.Wilson suggests the maximum dosage for TMG should be one gram (1,000 mg) for women and three grams (3,000 mg) for men. (Source)

Dietary Methylation Enhancers and Inhibitors

According to Dr. Donielle “Doni” Wilson, apparently not related to Dr. Lawrence Wilson, a major inhibitor to the methylation process is stress, the psychological type that adversely affects one’s adrenals.

And there are other biological stress factors, such as oxidative stress, the type antioxidants are meant to protect. Alcohol consumption adds to internal stress that blocks the methylation process. So does consuming folic acid supplements and processed foods supplemented with folic acid.

Folate is encouraged instead of folic acid. There are some folate supplements, but green leafy vegetables contain a good deal of folate as well. Dr. Doni also cites yeast “die-off” from treating candida as another inhibitor of methylation.

Inflammation and out of control autoimmune antibodies that cause inflammation also inhibit methylation, as well as leaky gut, food sensitivities, and elevated nitric acid, which is common to Lyme and chronic fatigue sufferers. (Source.)

The good news is that all those inhibitory methylation factors are corrected by boosting methylation with TMG, a simple inexpensive supplement, and avoiding alcohol, processed foods, and managing stressful situations without stressing out.

Ironically, vegetarians, especially vegans and raw food consumers, need to supplement TMG even more than meat and/or dairy consumers.

TMG for methylation is endorsed by health practitioners who are more concerned with balancing nutrition than adding supplements because it encourages the body to create and balance valuable nutritional substances while eliminating toxins, some of which are inherent with too much supplement intake.

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