Thanks for your response! I don't believe I have tried nutrahacker though I may upload my 23andme report and see what they have to say in their free report. I have used other websites like geneticgenie that also purport to identify significant SNP's.
The problem is that I think a lot of the claims made by these websites are borderline pseudo-science, and it's often almost impossible to find any type of study backing up their claims. For example, I am unable to find any study suggesting that the rs1801181 SNP that you reference (for which I'm also homozygous for the "risk" allele btw) has a significant biological effect. Are you aware of any such studies? I suspect that the claim originally came from Amy Yasko, who some say is notorious for misreading studies and overstating the significance of certain SNP's.
It seems that even the significance of SNP's that we know to have a pronounced effect on enzyme function, i.e. the C677T MTHFR mutation, are often overstated and can give rise to faulty information based on myth or at least exaggeration, which is then subject to the echo chamber of the methylation and health blogs and forums. For example, see earlier discussion in this thread with Darryl citing studies on the significance of the MTHFR C677T SNP.
The current scientific concensus regarding the genetic basis of complex health disorders appears to be that in most cases, individual SNP's do no more than create a small increment of risk, and that in fact it is the interaction of hundreds or even thousands of gene variations that gives rise to health problems. Even when studies successfully link individual SNP's to certain disorders, the significance of the association tends to be relatively weak and is often not reproduced in other studies. This appears to be especially true for neurological disorders.
In other words, I am becoming less and less convinced that one can point to a specific SNP in their genetic profile and meaningfully link it to their symptoms. I may eventually swing back in the other direction; who knows. That said, I am open to any all possibilities, and I do think that anecdotal evidence can have value when that's all we have to go on. The fact that you benefitted so much from molybdenum is very interesting. Were the effects consistent? Do you still benefit from it? I have tried it without noticeable effect.
As to the suggestion that those homozygous for the Met version of the COMT SNP you reference may experience bad effects from methyl donors, I have not found this to be the case for me. I'm Met/Met but do just fine with methyl donors (after I got my potassium up--see earlier posts). Most anecdotal accounts I have read seem to refute the association (it's another Yasko claim isn't it?). But hey, who knows?
I do take NAC and find it indispensable for boosting cognitive clarity. I find that I get a similar though perhaps less pronounced effect from other anti-inflammatory supplements like quercetin, grape seed extra, and curcumin. I am beginning to suspect that a lot of my issues, aside from some borderline vitamin deficiencies discussed earlier in this thread, relate to inflammation. I have a number of signs of inflammation (extensive allergies, digestive issues, etc.), and inflammation is increasingly being implicated in neurological disorders like ADHD (that'd be me), depression, schizophrenia, autism, etc. The effects of inflammation can't be underestimated, and can alter the function of many enzymes and processes throughout the body. If you benefit from NAC, you might try adding some other anti-inflammatory supplements and see if you get any added benefit.
I would like to try adenosylcobalamin. I wonder if I would benefit from it as I seem to benefit so markedly from both cyano and methylcobalamin.
Again, thanks for your response. I have found information exchanged on this and other forums to be indispensable.
Edited by Kingsley, 07 August 2015 - 04:43 PM.