Comment · Tue, July 21, 2015 · Ceretropic
Will 23andme offer any insight into improving my cognition?
Original post in this thread
dihexa · 113 points
This may not be the correct subreddit to post this, but /r/nootropics seem to be leagues ahead of others in regards to cognitive knowledge.
I'm thinking about doing a saliva test with these guys to provide me with any details I could use to direct my efforts toward increasing my cognition. Is this a waste of time/money, or could I find any possible leads? Thanks.
What they were answering
chris106 · 1 points
Isn't there also a relationship between methylation and sulfur?
My memory on that is a bit hazy (did research on my 23andme results a few months back), but I think certain SNPS can create problems with sulfur detoxification, which builds up too much ammonia and drains the methylation cycle even more.
For example I shouldn't take too many sulfur containing supplements (L-Theanine, NAC, Taurine a.o) and on top take methyldonors like TMG or MB12, because while initially feeling great, the crash is harder.
I remember having many conflicting advices in my Nutrahacker report because of this as well, which is rather frustrating...
Anyone feel free to correct me, by the way.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Dietary sulfur comes from methionine, cysteine, and taurine; usually in the form of proteins. The methylation cycle regulates the production of compounds in the body that require sulfur. One of the most common sulfur containing substances in the human body is glutathione. When your glutathione levels fall too much, your methylation cycle slows. Then the extra sulfur from your diet goes into the transsulfuration pathway in too high of amounts. Those sulfur metabolites get oxidized to cystine, which is eventually converted into sulfate, and excreted from the body. So you get into a feedback loop where your low glutathione levels continue to stay low, due to the slowing of the methylation cycle through a B12 mechanism.
So you adding in TMG and Methyl-B12 can help alleviate part of the methylation cycle, but actually cause more feedback loops down the line. The key is getting your methionine synthase working properly, so that your glutathione levels do not fall, and the methylation cycle can continue normally.
Out of curiosity, how well do you react to N-Acetyl L-Cysteine by itself?