Mastering Nutrition

Question: How to lower Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG)? Carrie: SHBG is like bane of my existence. I have no idea how to get SBHG down once it's up. Boy, I actually talk to practitioners about this all the time to figure that out. I would agree that supplements that for SHBG, it's very hit or miss, Tongkat being one of them, DHEA being the other. There are two other ones, stinging nettles and Avena oats. There's like very mild, very weak research about lowering SHBG with nettles and then with Avena. Again, it's like hit or miss. How to get that SHBG down? Well, also remember, SHBG binds estrogen as well. Although he said his estrogen is low. Actually low, but relative. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: Why does estrogen regulate tryptophan metabolism? Chris: I think that it's basically the body trying to make sure that the baby has enough niacin because chronic estrogen exposure would occur during pregnancy. When I was doing my niacin research, one thing that I found is that women seem to need more total niacin than men, but they seem to be better at making niacin from protein. What's really interesting is that the studies that were done that were used to make the RDA, there weren't comparisons in men and women, but two of the studies were men and two studies were in women. The standard deviations, meaning how much variation there was person to person, in how much niacin that they needed to normalize what they were looking at was way bigger in men than it was in women. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: Insomnia is different between people who are and aren't on HRT? Carrie: Yes, sort of. If it's strictly a hormone issue, if she says, "I've never had insomnia. I turned 45 and I got insomnia. And, oh, by the way, I'm also having irregular periods and hot flashes and night sweats and all this stuff," I find that going on HRT generally resolves their insomnia. If they've had insomnia their whole life and, by the way, they're having hormonal issues as well or they're perimenopausal, going on HRT may or may not help their insomnia because their insomnia may be induced by, of course, other things; cortisol, blood sugar, parasites, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism. Then I find that it's much more systemic as opposed to just the women who say to me, "I turned 40 and can't sleep," or "I turned 56 and I can't sleep." I'm like, "Oh, perimenopause." This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&ahttps://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: The use of pregnenolone to manage perimenopausal symptoms, particularly insomnia. Carrie: Well, so here's the thing about pregnenolone. Oral or sublingual, so if you've got drops or little tables you suck on. Pregnenolone and progesterone, when they go through first pass, so you swallow them and then you go through first pass, they turn into other metabolites. One is called allo, which is short for allopregnanolone. Allo binds to your GABA receptors in your brain. Allo can cross the blood-brain barrier, binds to GABA. GABA, of course, is your calming, relaxing, everything is going to be okay hormone. Pregnenolone, oral pregnenolone and oral progesterone actually work on the anxiety and on the insomnia from a GABA point of view. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: Guidance on what time of day it is best to take T4 and/or T3? Carrie: It actually depends if you're taking immediate release T4 or T3 especially or sustained release because T4 has a much longer half-life which is why we traditionally say to take it in the morning since it helps with energy and metabolism and all those things. Although I do know some people choose to take their T4 at night before bed. But T3 has a very short half-life, and so what I'm finding is some practitioners are now doing what's called a sustained release T3. They take their T3 and it helps sustain longer throughout the day, or they will take their T3 twice. They'll take it in the morning and then they'll sort of take it again in the mid-afternoon. Now, if you're taking a combination T4/T3 such as Armour or Nature-Throid, you can't get the sustained part. I do know some people who will take their Armour or their Nature-Throid in the morning, and then they will take in additional dose of T3 in the early afternoon like an extra, whatever it is, 2.5 or 5 micrograms of T3. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: A rant on why many people use “MTHFR” to slap a label on their health problems. I put MTHFR in quotes because I meant it the way that people mean when they say, "I have MTHFR." Everyone has MTHFR. What people mean by that is they have these MTHFR polymorphisms. What I meant by that title is that there's a very compelling—It's not totally airtight. It's not completely proven. There's a very compelling argument that the low activity of the C677T polymorphism in MTHFR is exclusively a result of mediocre riboflavin concentrations. That's what I meant by just your MTHFR in quotes means the polymorphism, the result of the polymorphism. Just riboflavin means that the enzyme activity is only lower as a result of that polymorphism because of the mediocre riboflavin concentrations. To them, MTHFR doesn't mean the rate of the MTHFR enzyme. It's a general label for all their health problems that they put Band-Aid solutions on like these tedious distinctions between these different forms of B vitamins and stuff like that that in a healthy well-balanced system don't matter. If people are hypersensitive to little distinctions in the type of B vitamins they’re taking like this, their problem is not just MTHFR. Their problem might be related to methylation. They probably have mineral deficiencies, or other genetic polymorphisms, or other health problems, thyroid-adrenal stuff that are causing that. The reason that MTHFR isn't simply about riboflavin for those people versus the well-controlled studies of showing that riboflavin supplementation specifically lowers homocysteine 40%, specifically in people with MTHFR C677T homozygous, specifically with poor riboflavin status. When you're out there saying that overmethylators can't tolerate methylcobalamin or they get terrible reactions to this, you're slapping overmethylator label on someone whose problem is that they just don't have a rational strategy for dealing with their MTHFR. Because no one is an overmethylator or an undermethylator, unless it's a collection of symptoms of a poorly managed methylation system. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/09/06/ask-anything-nutrition-march-8-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: Are there safety concerns in supplementing cyanocobalamin rather methylcobalamin in those with MTHFR polymorphisms? If you're concerned about methylation-related issues, you would want to be careful with methylcobalamin supplementation in a way that you would not need to be careful about hydroxocobalamin supplementation. If you don't have a specific methylation-related goal, then I think hydroxocobalamin is the default because that's the sort of like metabolically neutral B12 in that it's not predisposed to any particular system, and it's not going to affect any system in a specific way apart from just being nutritional B12. Then the second thing is “if you had MTHFR, is it dangerous to supplement with cyanocobalamin?” It doesn't matter. I don't think MTHFR has anything to do with methylcobalamin really. If you don't have malabsorption of everything else, you should look at the specific causes of B12 malabsorption, which are pernicious anemia and gastritis, including subclinical gastritis driven by H. pylori in the stomach. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/09/06/ask-anything-nutrition-march-8-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: What about pyroluria and measuring kryptopyrroles? I think it's fairly harmless to increase zinc and B6 as a test of whether that's true and see if you get results from it. But I wouldn't treat it like a diagnostic value because no one has followed up any science on that disorder in the decades since it's been proposed. Kryptopyrroles are very similar to porphyrins, that LabCorp has a whole series of tests on. I would go to LabCorp's site, go to Test Menu and then search it for porphyrin, and you'll see a bunch of things that come up. Some of the concerns are relatively similar in terms of zinc and B6 that come up with those. But in my view, the pyroluria thing is to the extent it has merits probably has some relation to the porphyrin disorders and maybe is one. I'm not sure. But I would definitely, like if you're going to investigate the issue, I would investigate it with those. I can say that from the porphyrin disorders, some of them will cause various things to happen in the skin ranging from the skin turning brown when exposed to sun, to pain in response to sun exposure, to the skin turning red in response to the sun. Not a usual red, but a weird red. Some of them will cause red to brown discoloration of the urine, but some of them don't cause any colors because there's a whole category of porphyrin disorders that are all in the same pathway and some of them are sun sensitive, some aren't; some accumulate in the skin, some don't; some of them try to change color; some of them cause pain, some don't; you can't really go exclusively on those symptoms. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/09/06/ask-anything-nutrition-march-8-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: How to manage blood levels of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. I don't specifically want to look at the omega-3-to-omega-6 ratio. The AA/EPA ratio, I do not believe in wanting to get it low enough to prevent inflammation. I don't believe in using it that way. But I do believe that if it were too low, it could cause problems. I don't know what the cutoff would be. But if you're on the low end of normal, then I would think about cutting back your intake of EPA. But my main concern would be if you're in the low or even middle end of the normal range for either arachidonic acid or DHA, I think you want to increase your intake of those. Particularly if your intake is already high, look for the cause of low levels. Especially if both of them are low, that could be caused by inflammation or oxidative stress. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/09/06/ask-anything-nutrition-march-8-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Question: Can PEMT genetics cause fat malabsorption, mineral deficiencies, and oxalate problems? First of all, saponification of minerals, the point here is that if you have malabsorption of fat, the fatty acids are going to bind to any positively charged minerals in your diet. This has been particularly well studied in preterm infants where the poor absorption of fatty acids causes the fatty acids to bind to the calcium that have lower bioavailability. Yeah. If you surpass your ability to absorb the fat, the fatty acids can bind minerals and induce mineral deficiencies. I agree with this. PEMT polymorphism is a marker of poor synthesis of phosphatidylcholine. That will impair export of fat from the liver. Low phosphatidylcholine synthesis due to PEMT. I was thinking of it as a direct marker. It's not a direct marker, but it could theoretically impact. This is probably especially true if you have a low phosphatidylcholine intake. Probably eating phosphatidylcholine protects against this. But yeah, low phosphatidylcholine levels in the liver partly as an interaction between low activity in the PEMT enzyme and low intake of phosphatidylcholine from food could cause bile acid issues, which could in turn cause fat malabsorption. If you have fat malabsorption and you have enough digestion of the fat to release the free fatty acids from triglycerides, but you don't have enough absorption of those fatty acids, the fatty acids will bind calcium. They won't bind oxalate, they can't. Binding the calcium will lower the calcium absorption, and it will also prevent the calcium from binding oxalate. Calcium binding oxalate is what prevents oxalate absorption, so yes, I would think that would increase oxalate absorption. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/09/06/ask-anything-nutrition-march-8-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.