The Long-Lasting Effects of Diet on Methylation

The methylation cycle is a biochemical pathway that manages and contributes to wide range of crucial bodily functions, including detoxification, immune function, maintaining DNA, energy production, mood balancing, and controlling inflammation. Methylation helps the body respond to environmental stressors and adapt to its surroundings. When methylation function is lowered, it may contribute to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic fatigue, miscarriages and infertility, allergies and digestive problems. Being methylation is involved in almost every biochemical reaction and occurs billions of times every second, it is crucial to figure out where in the cycle discrepancies occur and determine which foods can optimize the cycle’s function. This is also crucial for expecting mothers, as their dietary choices during pregnancy can directly affect the epigenome of the fetus; the diet as an infant can also affect the epigenome in ways that stick into adulthood as well. Animal studies have shown that a diet with too little methyl-donating folate or choline before or just after birth causes certain regions of the genome to be under-methylated for life. Expecting mothers should take extra precaution to maintain a methyl-rich diet both during pregnancy and when nursing; more methylation is understood the more informed choices one can make to support it in their body.