Genetic preferences for vegetarian and seafood-heavy diets

[circular]

The Instant Pot is great with eggs but I haven't tried poaching them with it. Here's a little U Tube video. Could sub some homemade avo oil mayo for the hollandaise ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bSMiLeI0cJw

[marthaNH]

This is very interesting, especially considering my current n1 to mediate blood pressure, cortisol levels, and sleep, which involves more vegetables and less fasting, at least for now. I turned out to be CC for FADS1 and AA for FADS2, not so hot with the BDNF production, and more I'm still learning.

[apod]

Very interesting, I finally got around to checking on this. I'm rs174548 (gg) and rs1535 (gg). I'm also ct @ rs7946.

Lately, I'm getting around 375mg/d of choline (some days without meat or eggs, I'm down around 200mg/d) and getting some salmon in once a week or so (occasionally 3x a week, occasionally 0x a week.) I've been turning down the carb intake and replacing with fats (while favoring unsaturated fats > saturated), which has really brought up my omega-6 intake. Lately, I've been including more flax / chia / hemp in my diet to somewhat balance the scale and maintain an overall 4:1 n-6:n-3 ratio, but this might only be serving to further increase polyunsaturated fats and the potential for easier lipid peroxidation. It seems like I might want to rethink my choline / omega-3 regimen (I've been avoiding these with potential TMAO issues surrounding higher intakes of choline and potential cholesterol issues with supplementing omega-3's as an E4.) I've read that higher intakes of PUFAs can require higher intakes of vitamin E (yet E supplementation might be associated with inflammation / cancer) + CoQ10 (ubiquinone vs ubiquinol?)

Maybe a doctors best Phosphatidylserine (100mg) + GPC (300mg) supplement (daily?) + 1g DHA/EPA (2g/d algae oil?) + tocotrienols (occasionally?) + CoQ10 (MicroActive Ubiquinone CoQ10 with PQQ?) + Meriva Curcumin (to increase FADS2 enzyme activity.) Although, this seems a bit heavy on the supplemental antioxidant front (especially if I get some vitamin C going in there.) It seems like I've also read that Uridine stacks well with Choline+DHA (+folate, which I'm already taking as a homozygous MTHFR, which stacks well with b12.) Hmmm..

Or, I suppose I could just eat more fish, meat, organs, and eggs.

[LanceS]

Posted AA and CC... along with a bunch of sat fat admonitions leads me toward being a granoly vegetarian! If I'm 4/4 how did this happen? Did this mean I wasn't very good at hunting?

FADS1 rs174548(C;C) associated with higher phosphatidylcholine levels

This polymorphism in the fatty acid desaturase FADS1 gene affects phosphatidylcholine levels. The genotype rs174548(C;C) is associated with having high phosphatidylcholine levels (more than both the lower (G;G) and intermediate (C;G) genotypes).

Phosphatidylcholine is a key component in all cell membranes and plays a very important role in the structure of the cell, which affects all biological functions. It is also a precursor for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which has been shown to play a role in promoting REM sleep. Damage to the cholinergic system in the brain has been shown to be plausibly associated with the memory deficits associated with Alzheimer's disease and possibly other neurodegenerative diseases, and for this reason has also been a therapeautic target through the action of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which prevent the enzymatic breakdown of acetylcholine.

Phosphatidylcholine can be found in supplement form and its precursor choline can be found in dietary sources, which include things like organ meats and egg yolk.

Read more on SNPedia.
Read more about FADS1 and phosphatidylcholine.

SNPs Involved
rs174548(C;C)


FADS2 rs1535(A;A) more efficient conversion of ALA into omega-3 EPA

This is a common polymorphisms in the delta(6) desaturase gene FADS2. FADS2 is responsible for elongating polyunsaturated fatty acids like alpha­linolenic acid (ALA) and converting it into eicosapentenoic acid (EPA). The rs1535(A;A) genotype is associated with being the most efficient converter of ALA into omega-3 EPA.

Read more on SNPedia.
Read more about the effect on FADS2 ALA to EPA conversion efficiency.
Read about how curcumin increases FADS2 and brain DHA levels.

SNPs Involved
rs1535(A;A)

[Julie G]

Lance, based on just these two very efficient genes (my guess is there's a lot more at play) it looks like you could safely lean towards a vegan diet. I'm not sure how this interplays with E4... but don't Drs. Gundry & Bredesen's theorize that we evolved from the apes and most likely ate a heavily plant based diet? As carriers of the ancestral gene, our genotype may have even predated fire and not eaten meat until later. You might be a true throwback .

[LanceS]

Lance, based on just these two very efficient genes (my guess is there's a lot more at play) it looks like you could safely lean towards a vegan diet. I'm not sure how this interplays with E4... but don't Drs. Gundry & Bredesen's theorize that we evolved from the apes and most likely ate a heavily plant based diet? As carriers of the ancestral gene, our genotype may have even predated fire and not eaten meat until later. You might be a true throwback .

My sister has a middle toe that is noticeably longer than the others. Sadly I missed on that particular throwback gene (I would love to hang from a tree branch with my foot)...but there could be something to this throwback idea. Have struggled to find where one grandfather came from. Becoming a little more clear now.

[Russ]

To keep the team database growing, I ran Rhonda's report, and I am rs1535(G;G), which says I'm 58.2% poorer at converting ALA to EPA. Love my veggies, but I certainly did not (recently) descend from heavy plant-only eaters.

[marthaNH]

Well, here's a question. Are many of you trying to do vegan plus fish and eggs in a low-carb context? I'm homozygous for the veggie genes discussed here and shifting toward that diet while trying to lessen my dependence on Greek yogurt -- on grumpy days when I'm out of avocados and blackberries, it feels like the only food I really look forward to and I continue to find it very satisfying. But I think I'd have healthier (? lower, anyway) animal protein totals and lower carbs, too, if I could give it up and switch to a very small dose of lifeway kefir (A2 cow-sourced, I think Julie told me once) in my chia/blueberry/nutritional yeast smoothie every day or two.

(Along those lines, Whole Foods still sells a non-supplemented nutritional yeast that boosts niacin, B2, and has the right kind of folate for us while delivering selenium and low-methionine protein, all at reasonable, food-based levels.)

The carb issue is mainly of concern to me now that I'm in the middle of an n1 that is raising my vegetable-based sugars. I don't like the numbers I get on my blood glucose meter when I eat sugars. But beets and their greens are a big part of my present experiment to manage high blood pressure. I have the bad gene for that, 6 or 8- times increased risk and on meds for the last 15 years or so.

[seaweed]

I'm rs174548 GG and rs1535 GG.

I'm GG and GG, too, and also homozygous for a bunch of other FADS1 and FADS2 genes. Are you successfully doing Keto? So far trying high fat diets makes me feel pretty terrible. Any tips for following the Bredesen protocol while having FADS1 & FADS2 SNPs?

[Starfish77]

Starfish here. I'm not doing Keto. My husband died 20 years ago. I was used to not eating any meat except poultry because of his medical requirements for his heart. I didn't eat eggs for years. I got used to eating only poultry so I just don't eat red meat, without thinking about it. I began eating eggs again when I learned about the Bredesen protocol. I eat one every day. I have always eaten seafood so that wasn't a change. I always had a weight problem before giving up wheat. Before learning about the Bredesen protocol, I'm sure my diet was way too low in good fat, because I was avoiding all fat. I was doing this mistakenly thinking it would keep my weight down.
My personal feeling is if something makes you feel bad, after giving it a reasonable try, It probably is not a good thing for you to do. Perhaps you have some personal characteristic that doesn't do well with something that might be fine for many other people. Just my own opinion.