Diseases that May be helped by a Methylation Diet

December 2011: Vol 6 No 12

The following are some diseases that may be helped by providing a methylation diet:

Arteriosclerosis and its cousin atherosclerosis, plus calcification are major contributors to heart disease and stroke by constricting the flow of blood and inviting artery blockage. Arteriosclerosis is the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells into the connective tissues inside of blood vessels. This causes expansion of this tissue and narrowing the inside of the blood vessel, which reduces the flow of blood. This thickening and distortion of the artery interior can also be involved with fatty deposits in the case of atherosclerosis. These structures can then accept calcium and calcify. This makes the vessels inflexible so that it can’t expand enough to allow blood to be pumped through it. This constricting of the flow of blood does invite artery blockage. Restricting the flow of blood greatly reduces the flow of nutrients that the cells need to operate efficiently, which can cause stroke in the heart, lungs or brain. It is the blockage of these vessels that cause heart and brain deaths.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is displayed by stiff joints, especially in the morning, as well as by swelling, inflammation, and tenderness in the joints. It appears that the autoimmune system is responsible in part to this disease because of a loss of DNA methylation. In this disease there is a lower white blood cell count (specifically T-Cells) in people with RA than in healthy people.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degeneration and loss of cartilage in the joints. Cartilage acts as a a biological shock absorber and keeps the bones from rubbing against one another. If the cartilage is lost or damaged, the bone ends can be damaged with fatigue fractures. The body acts to repair these bones, which brings an increase in bone structures in these areas that cause pain and disability. Methylation may be increased with the use of “Cell Repair.”

Osteoporosis is a condition that affects bone structures.  Osteoporosis is called “brittle bone” disease and there is evidence that osteoporosis is usually found in people with high levels of homocystinuria even in people a few years old. We previously stated that when the cartilage is gone in the joints, that the ends of the bones rub and grind on each other. The body acts to repair these bones, which brings an increase in bone structures in the joints which causes the pain and disability. I am not implying the your should only use Cell Repair. Your body can use the additional help from good multi-minerals and multi-vitamins with vitamin D and magnesium supplements. Estrogen replacement therapy, which helps to prevent osteoporosis, has also been shown to lower homocysteine levels.

Heart disease is tragic enough in adults and is absolutely bizarre when it effects children. High levels of homocysteine in children is elevated long before it can cause vascular disease, stroke and heart disease. Homocysteine stimulates the growth of vascular smooth muscle cells and is basic to the events in arteriosclerosis in the circulatory system.

Skin can be affected by homocysteine levels too. Remember what we said about skin. Well the lung has skin called epithelial squamous cells. Without methylation in the blood that give nutrition to these lung cells, these cells can become course and inflexible. It is the rough texture of these cells that can catch metastatic cancer cells which cause the squamous (epidermoid) cell carcinoma in about 30% of lung cancers, with Adenocarcinoma constituting 30 to 40%, Large Cell (10 to 15%), and Small Cell about 20 to 25% of the lung cancer patients. Yes, methylation is greatly needed here to reduce metastatic cancers of all types. I think that you will see trials with dietary modification in the future.

In our next discussion we will list two body systems that may be helped by a high methylation diet.

Diseases that May be helped by a Methylation Diet. Copyright 2011