Qs re: homocysteine-lowering vitamins

[Roel]

I am uncertain what to do about supplemental calcium. I am concerned about osteoporosis, but supplemental calcium seems to significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

NEVER take Calcium without plenty of Vitamin D and K-2. Not medical advice. From significant experience.

[Roel]

Homocysteine will go up when you follow Walsh protocol. But there are other ways to bring it down again. Checkout Vitamin B2. Also, definitely read Walsh' book (Nutrient Power). If you get the audible audio version, you can listen (read; chew through - lots of medical terms) to the first 6 hours orso, but then when you get to the examples (after all the medical terms), they will make much more sense as you listened to the first part (and you may clearly recognize yourself in one of the examples given, but still do the testing - pyrrole, copper, zinc, homocysteine, ...).

[CoachMT]

Hi Roel, welcome to the Apoe4.info community! Great to see you are already engaging in the forums and supporting fellow members! It sounds like you’ve had an opportunity to click around the site a bit already and learn from others in the community. If you haven’t seen it already, the the primer is a great place to start. It was authored by a member physician who carries two copies of the APOE-ε4 allele, is regularly updated and provides information on the science behind the APOE-ε4 allele, tips on diet and lifestyle choices, biomarkers to check, and prevention strategies. You may also be interested in checking out the Our Stories“ forum to learn more about community members embarking on this journey alongside you and to share your own story. Welcome!

[xactly]

Homocysteine will go up when you follow Walsh protocol.

The Walsh Protocol is really good for fixing issues like Pyrrole Disorder. However, I think it's way off the mark for addressing undermethylation. One of my relatives did a consult with a Walsh-trained practitioner. My relative had significant issues with undermethylation, and the practitioner recommended 2 g of methionine and 200 mg of SAMe daily. Knowing my relative is an E3/E4, I was really concerned about the effect of the methionine on his homocysteine level.

Luckily, I had just listened to one of Chris Masterjohn's podcasts on methylation, so I helped my relative swap out the methionine and SAMe for creatine and moderate doses of riboflavin, methylcobalamin and methylfolate. My relative has done spectacularly well on the modified protocol. I wish the Walsh Institute would connect with Chris Masterjohn and update its approach to treating methylation issues. I believe the institute is doing important work, and Bill Walsh's book was a real eye-opener on the link between behavioral disorders and biochemical imbalances.

[Roel]

@xactly wow great info. I have found that I seem to do well on Creatine and methylcobalamin.

Few questions based on your input;
1) How to check for E3/E4? i.e. what are the genes when using 23andme?
2) Why does the effect of methionine on homocysteine concern you when E3/E4 is present?
3) What dose of creatine and are there any counter-indicators for creatine (I have had double heart artery bypass)?

Update; found answer to #1; https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/APOE then grep through your 23andme raw file.

$ grep -E "rs429358|rs7412[^0-9]" genome_....txt
rs429358 19 45411941 TT
rs7412 19 45412079 CC

So looks like I am E3/E3 (most common)? Is homocysteine affected in this case?

[xactly]

Few questions based on your input;
1) How to check for E3/E4? i.e. what are the genes when using 23andme?
2) Why does the effect of methionine on homocysteine concern you when E3/E4 is present?
3) What dose of creatine and are there any counter-indicators for creatine (I have had double heart artery bypass)?

Update; found answer to #1; https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/APOE then grep through your 23andme raw file.

$ grep -E "rs429358|rs7412[^0-9]" genome_....txt
rs429358 19 45411941 TT
rs7412 19 45412079 CC

So looks like I am E3/E3 (most common)? Is homocysteine affected in this case?

It does look like you are an E3/E3. Congratulations!

I think elevated homocysteine is an issue regardless of your APOE status, but the APOE4 allele may increase its impact on cognitive decline. Since Alzheimer's Disease and cardiovascular disease are risks for everyone (E3/E3s can also develop both vascular dementia and AD), it's a good idea to test your homocysteine and implement a dietary protocol to lower it.

Do you know what your results are for the MTHFR C677T SNP are? (It's at rs1801133.) That's the main SNP that affects the methylation cycle. If you have the wild type at that position (C/C), you may produce adequate levels of methylfolate and, therefore, not need to follow a protocol to address undermethylation.

[Roel]

Thank you very much for the input.

Do you know what your results are for the MTHFR C677T SNP are? (It's at rs1801133.)

rs1801133 1 11856378 GG

On the homocysteine, from memory, Vit B2 is good for lowering it.

[xactly]

Do you know what your results are for the MTHFR C677T SNP are? (It's at rs1801133.)

rs1801133 1 11856378 GG

Looks like you also have the wild type (aka normal) for MTHFR C677T. That's great!