The Universal Meth Donor

Methylation is incredibly fundamental. I mean, I almost sometimes I'll draw the analogy that it's like oxygen to breathing. And so there's hundreds of methylation reactions happening. One of them is the methylation of estrogens. We want our body to be able to methylate actually even beyond being harmless, those methylated estrogen can actually be protective to us too. So we need to ask ourselves, as functional medicine providers, are we adequately balancing methylation in this individual?

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Today, Dr. Kara Fitzgerald joins me to talk about DNA Methylation.

Life expectancy in the United States is on the decline. We are living for a shorter time and according to the World Health Organization, even though we have a life expectancy of 79.3 years, the average age for developing a serious illness is 63.1 years old. That means that we spend the last 16.2 years of our life ill. Aging is driven by DNA methylation, a process that influences which genes are turned on and which are turned off. We use DNA methylation as an epigenetic clock to measure biological age. DNA methylation changes as we age, to our detriment, and it’s not just a surrogate marker of aging. DNA methylation appears to drive aging itself.

Foods that could lower your biological age:

Liver [or liver capsules]
Eggs
Mushrooms [shitake or enoki]
Leafy greens
Pumpkin seeds
Blueberries
Turmeric

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald Bio:

Kara Fitzgerald, ND, IFMCP, is engaged in clinical research on DNA methylation using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her virtual and in-person Functional Medicine clinic.

She is the author of Younger You: Reduce Your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better, a ground-breaking work detailing an 8-week study that resulted in a 3-year reversal of biological aging, and the step-by-step program that will help you live better and longer.

In her quest for personalized health care for all, she leads clients through her Younger You Program and has as a Younger You companion cookbook, Better Broths, and Healing Tonics.

Dr. Fitzgerald is on faculty at the Institute for Functional Medicine [IFM] and is an IFM Certified Practitioner.

She regularly lectures internationally and hosts the podcast New Frontiers in Functional Medicine. She received her doctorate in naturopathic medicine from the National University of Natural Medicine in Oregon and is in private practice in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

In this episode:

How cancer hijacks our epigenetics. [4:25]
Dr. Fitzgerald defines methylation and explains how it differs from DNA methylation. [9:05]
Foods that are important to improve methylation. [15:45]
Foods that seem to direct epigenetic traffic. [17:39]
Lifestyle pieces that could favorably influence DNA methylation in addition to the diet. [19:33]
Foods that could lower your biological age. [25:46]
Studies show that people who drink coffee live longer. [27:44]
How to exercise to help prevent aging. [30:32]
Foods to avoid that could be pro-aging. [33:13]
Supplements that are recommended for anti-aging. [40:10]
A backdoor approach for those who do not tolerate supplements well. [44:00]

Links and resources:

Guest Social Media Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkarafitzgerald/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrKaraFitzgerald/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kfitzgeraldnd

Relative Links for This Show::

Younger Your Program: https://youngeryouprogram.com/basa/

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