Fertility & Folic Acid – Why taking folic acid may not be enough

In this week’s article I will explain why folic acid is so important when trying to conceive and in the early stages of pregnancy, the importance of a process called ‘methylation’ and how it relates to folic acid, and how a genetic defect called MTHFR affects methylation and the body’s ability to use folic acid. I will also give advice on testing for MTHFR and what you can do to minimize its effect so you can conceive naturally.

Why Do I Have To Take Folic Acid?

When you are trying to get pregnant, one of the first pieces of advice you are given is to make sure you take folic acid. We all know it’s important, but why is that? Well, when we talk about fertility the most important thing to consider is your genetic makeup or code. Your genetic code is contained in your DNA which is very susceptible to coding errors that cause genetic defects. DNA is of vital importance in fertility both in the health of the egg and sperm as well as for the newly developing embryo. The whole reason folic acid is added to prenatal vitamins is because of its role in the replication of DNA. When the egg is fertilized, and has implanted in the uterine lining, the embryo begins a process of rapid cell division, this rapid cell division uses a lot of methylated (or active) folic acid – what is known as methylfolate.

What Is Methylation and What Does It Have To Do With Folic Acid & Fertility?

Let’s start with a simple biochemistry lesson. Methylation is the process of effectively turning genes off or on by adding methyl groups to the strands DNA. A methyl group is a cluster of a single carbon molecule and three hydrogen molecules that methylate another molecule by attaching to it.

Basically, wherever there is a methyl group, the gene it is attached to will be silent and, when the methyl group is removed, the gene will be expressed. The concept is simple but the effects are significant in terms of our susceptibility to any disease or health condition that we carry. For example, women with methylation defects have an increased risk of blood clots in pregnancy.

Methylation is responsible for making, repairing and maintaining DNA (our genetic code) which is of vital importance for fertility but in addition to this, it also manages or contributes to a wide range of crucial bodily functions, including:

• Estrogen and testosterone regulation
• Detoxification
• Immune regulation
• DNA maintenance
• Energy production
• Mood balancing
• Inflammation regulation

Having an optimally functioning methylation cycle is key to reducing your susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurological disease, infertility and miscarriages. A good guideline is for that for each genetic defect you carry there is a 33% reduction in your body’s ability to methylate. If you have 2 defects, that percentage doubles

Around 40% of the population carries at least one genetic mutation on a methylation gene and there is one in particular that has been extensively researched – MTHFR, or methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase.

So why does it matter if you have a MTHFR defect? It matters because the ability to convert the vital nutrient folic acid into its biological active form, 5-methyltetraydrofolate (5-MTHF), is a methylation–driven, biochemical process. If you don’t have the ability to methylate, or your methylation is impaired, your ability to turn folic acid into its active form is reduced. If you don’t have the converted form of folic acid – 5MTHF then the genetic coding of your DNA may not replicate properly which creates a risk DNA defects in the embryo. DNA defects lead to infertility and miscarriages.