The Methylation Miracle: Unleashing Your Body's Natural Source of SAM-e

PREFACE

By Dr. Craig Cooney

Author of Methyl Magic: Maximum Health Through Methylation

There are tens of thousands of journal articles, each produced by a team of talented researchers pouring their life’s blood into a project. Which is more important? Who is on the right track? My life’s work is methylation, but somebody else’s is hormones, another’s is telomeres, etc. We are all convinced that we have a glimpse of a hidden and overlooked aspect of biology and health. We are all too wrapped up in our own work to be objective. Is what we are doing really that important?

I met Dr. Paul Frankel at a research retreat more than six years ago. He had one of the most impressive scientific backgrounds, and after all the talks, he decided to sit and hear more about methylation. He’d cock his head to one side and listen skeptically.

For me to have watched Dr. Frankel change his own course, diverge from his own research, and lock onto methylation as a key overlooked aspect of human health has been one of the most validating experiences in my career. This book then is the culmination of many years of his efforts to remedy the situation. For methylation today, much of what you see and hear is directly or indirectly related to his effort. It is with great pleasure that I write this preface to his book.

In this book Dr. Frankel uses the latest information to get to the core issues in diet, nutritional supplements and health. He uses his expertise in biostatistics, methylation and health issues to produce a balanced and well-researched account of the serious science that tells us how to choose the right foods and nutritional supplements to protect our health. Likewise, Nancy Bruning brings her extensive experience in making important health issues accessible to the general reader. Together they make this book not just useful and informative but entertaining!

Many scientists have known for years that most of us don’t get all the vitamins we need from our food and that the RDA levels of many vitamins are absurdly low. We also know that the levels of folate and SAMe in the blood of many people are too low for their optimum heath—mental and physical. Likewise, we know that homocysteine levels in the upper half of the normal range are a risk factor for heart disease. Unfortunately today it’s still normal to have a heart attack in your 60s or 70s and, if you’re a man, even younger. As you may have suspected, being normal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The great news is that many, if not most, heart attacks and strokes are almost entirely preventable! In fact, the basic process of vascular disease—arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis—is largely preventable. This news has yet to reach all of the medical community. Chances are, your doctor didn’t learn this in medical school and may still not know it. Next time your doctor tells you Oh, that’s normal try asking But Doc, is it optimal? Using the latest information this book tells about the levels of nutrients we should be getting and how to get them.

Methylation plays fundamental roles in how long we live, in how we think, in maternal nutrition and in the development of our children. Animal studies of 50 years ago told us that methylation was important to prevent heart disease and cancer. Now, more recent animal studies tell us that methylation has important effects on embryonic development that may extend for generations and that certainly make healthier, smarter offspring. The role of folic acid and homocysteine in preventing neural tube birth defects, while important, probably just scratches the surface of methylation’s role in our health and that of our children.

We can be confident about these important roles of methylation in health. The practical experience of real people as studied by epidemiologists tells us that high intake of food folates and folic acid supplements and low levels of homocysteine allow some of us to live especially long, healthy lives. And, if that weren’t enough, biochemists like myself (who look at things from a whole different perspective) have arrived at similar conclusions using animal and cell culture studies. From the pioneering work of the Borsook brothers, to the insight of Dr. Kilmer McCully and up to the present day, the lessons of over 50 years of scientific research are now accessible. Learning from the experience of others is not only wise but it can give you a very long life!

As this book tells us, homocysteine really is a dangerous intersection in our metabolism, and, even though this homocysteine intersection is necessary, you don’t have to spend much time there. This book tells you how to find out how much time you spend in the homocysteine intersection and then tells you how you can control the street lights and breeze right through!

Antioxidants and methyl supplements are our two major established supplement strategies for improving health, avoiding heart disease and cancer, and slowing aging. It almost seems too easy to think that we can make a huge difference in protecting our health with vegetables, nutrient-dense whole foods and strategically selected nutritional supplements. Yet, it is true and well worth it.

Little Rock, Arkansas

July 1999

INTRODUCTION: FINDING THE LINK

The last time I saw my great grandmother Anna alive, we had a wonderful time. I ate her special rugelach and laughed at the stories she told about her younger days and her husbands. The next time I saw her was at her funeral. Her death came as a complete shock to me—I didn’t even know she’d been sick. No one had told me because of the unwritten rule in my family: Hush! We don’t talk about such things. All I remember is that she was cheerful and had pleasant things to say—not a bad memory for a small boy.

I also recall my uncle Gary when he was getting ready for his young son to visit him in the hospital. Lying in bed, he said to me, I’m sorry, but I need a nap now because I am trying to look my best for when my son comes in. Sorry? The poor man was dying, and he knew it, and his big concern was that he couldn’t put on a show for us because he was saving his energy for his son.

My family is not unusual. Whether it is among friends or relatives, most people deceive one another about their health. When a person asks, How are you? we automatically respond, Fine. We deceive ourselves as well. We deny the possibility that illness could happen to us, and when it does, we accept the pain and sickness as fate, or chalk it up to an inevitable part of growing old. We accept the prognosis and treatment with blind faith and fall into the trap of wanting a single magic bullet that will cure or prevent disease. Like Grandma Anna and Uncle Gary, we obey the unwritten law that we must pretend that everything is okay. Well, everything is not okay.

It is not okay, for example, that:

• Each year more than twenty-two million Americans suffer from heart disease, thirty-three million from arthritis, nearly eight million from diabetes, and more than one million are diagnosed with cancer.

• In 1995, more than 800,000 heart operations were performed.

• Each year approximately 733,000 Americans die of heart disease, 160,000 from cerebrovascular disease (i.e., strokes), and more than 500,000 from cancer.

• In the United States, more than five million people need regular assistance for such daily activities as bathing, dressing, preparing meals, and even using the bathroom or telephone. One and a half million people are in nursing homes.

Appalling as they are, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Millions more suffer and die from AIDS, liver disease, lung disease, and auto-immune diseases. While the wisdom and dignity of our elderly are eroded by Alzheimer’s disease, the innocence and potential of our children are limited by birth defects.

No, things are definitely not okay. It may seem that only a miracle can save us. That miracle may be at hand. It is a process called methylation, which occurs naturally inside your body. Scientists have known about this miracle for quite some time. The sad part is, they haven’t done anything about it.

We have all heard about the health benefits of a good diet, exercise, stress management, and getting enough vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. But most Americans are not paying attention. Just as most scientists were not paying attention when the harmful effects of homocysteine were discovered. Yet the homocysteine/SAMe connection to optimum health is a discovery that I believe to be one of the most significant and tragically ignored in the history of medicine.

Homocysteine, an amino acid, is a substance that naturally occurs everywhere in our bodies. It is vital for life, but when there is too much of it, it can wreak devastating havoc on our health. Fortunately, nature is no dummy—our bodies have a process called methylation, which neutralizes excess homocysteine and prevents it from damaging our bodies, produces SAMe, and has many other beneficial effects. However, our modern way of eating and living is sabotaging this process. As a result, many people have an excess of homocysteine and a deficit of SAMe, increasing their risk of heart disease, cancer, and possibly premature aging.

I am one of a growing number of scientists who believe that the homocysteine/SAMe connection is vital to maintaining health, youth, and longevity. It explains why certain foods and nutritional supplements increase or decrease the risk of disease and possibly speed or slow the process of aging. It sheds light on seemingly contradictory results of research studies. It can explain, for example, why you can have low cholesterol and still suffer a heart attack or stroke, and why you can have high cholesterol and live a long and healthy life. It can explain why diets good for preventing heart disease also help reduce the risk of cancer. It ties together the most promising theories about aging and disease. And, properly understood, it holds great promise in disease prevention and possibly treatment as well. In fact, there is solid scientific evidence that the combination of proper diet, lifestyle, and supplements can prevent between 50 and 75 percent of the suffering and loss of quality of life due to heart and vascular disease. There is solid evidence that this approach can reduce suffering and death from other degenerative diseases as well, such as cancer, and osteoporosis.

If this sounds like hype to you, I assure you it isn’t. I’m a scientist with a background in mathematics and biology, and I’ve studied the behavior of cells with some of the finest scientists in the country. My articles have been published in peer-reviewed medical and research journals, and I have worked with leading nutritionists from agribusiness (far and away the best-trained nutritionists), physicians, and top biochemists. You can believe me when I tell you that the program outlined in this book could potentially save your life and the lives of millions of other people. That sounds miraculous to me.

I became interested in homocysteine in 1993 while on a research retreat with scientists from the City of Hope, in Duarte, California. Invited by Dr. Robert Klevecz, a cell biologist famous for his work in drug timing effects, I was watching the usual parade of world-class researchers present their latest material. Up stepped a youthful, quiet researcher named Dr. Craig Cooney. Dr. Cooney had been working on methylation and aging since 1979. As he presented his work, I somehow sensed that the material was different and exciting, even though the topic was completely new to me.

Intrigued, I made a point of sitting next to Dr. Cooney at dinner. In his suit and scholarly spectacles, he looked to be no more than thirty years old; in a T-shirt and jeans he could have passed for a college student. Yet I was astounded to discover he was almost forty years old. For nearly a year after Craig’s talk, I followed methylation research. At the time I was working as an academic, modeling cell activity and trying to help determine and describe the behavior and communication of cells and cell groups. This was and still is an interesting pursuit but, at the time, a rather esoteric one. In fact, you could fit all the people who were reading my research papers into a single small shower stall. Eager for my science to have a more practical application in the real world, I was thrilled to discover that my research path and the study of methylation were intertwined. Because methylation appeared to be so important yet so ignored, I decided to devote myself to studying and educating people about this major breakthrough in science and medicine. I hoped to have an impact—perhaps my work could directly help save lives.

My instinct to keep an open yet critical mind about treatments was nothing new. I had had several previous health crises, and had I not questioned my doctors’ advice at different times to undergo heart surgery and back surgery, and consider abdominal surgery, I doubt I’d be rock climbing today. After discussions with my physicians, they agreed with my analysis and decision to avoid surgery. As a result, I developed a healthy skepticism for preconceived ideas and blind faith in the status quo.

I’m not a clinician who can treat people directly, but I am a scientist, a mathematical biologist, and a biostatistician. Thus, with all the clinical evidence my research unearthed, plus my own personal experience as a methylation guinea pig, and my indignation at the fact that methylation had been ignored for so long, I decided to write a small booklet on methylation, the first on methylation outside of academia. A few years later, it caught the attention of Fred Madsen, Ph.D., a noted animal nutritionist who had been using the principles of methylation in planning optimal diets for commercial farms and zoos. My booklet piqued his interest in methylation for humans, and after many exciting conversations, together we decided to write a small book. Stop Homocysteine Through the Methylation Process contained dietary advice based on many effective natural diets or nutritional therapies. We already knew of the awesome power of nutrition in animals and humans. From the medical journals to our personal experience working with ourselves, our families, and our friends, we noted that sometimes nutritional therapies worked better than expected. We also noticed that they had a lot in common. They were geared toward preventing many degenerative diseases, from heart disease to cancer to arthritis. We figured that if the same basic nutritional therapy addresses so many diseases, then the diseases themselves would have a common underlying mechanism. That disease mechanism, as we soon discovered, includes high homocysteine, low SAMe, and poor methylation. So we developed a nutritional program that lowers homocysteine and increases SAMe by enhancing methylation. It was based on natural balance. Not too much, and not too little—just