Your Key to Balancing Mood, Focus & Wellbeing
Some of you will know what the COMT gene is through your own methylation DNA tests but many of you won’t.
So, let me explain what (on earth) COMT is.
COMT stands for Catechol (amine) O-Methyl Transferase and simply put it’s the name of a gene in your body. We all have a COMT gene. Its job is to help you to clear away hormones which are otherwise known as neurotransmitters like Oestrogen, Adrenaline and Dopamine. These hormones all have different and very important jobs to do. Dopamine for example helps you to feel motivated and focussed when you have it in the right amount, it creates a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction and it’s actually the neurotransmitter that is flooded in the brains of people who take cocaine or are addicts of any kind. The addictive behaviour triggers a dopamine release which can become an addictive pattern. When dopamine levels get too high, a person can become wired, jittery and feel overstimulated which can be attributed to ADHD.
We feel very good when dopamine creation & clearance are balanced.
In order to clear dopamine (and the other neurotransmitters above, plus many more) out of the body, we need the gene COMT to be working at a steady rate, not too fast and not too slow, so that it can create a substance that breaks down (metabolises) and clears the ‘no longer needed’ dopamine out of the body. Some people have a fast working COMT and other people have a slow COMT. The difference between how fast the genes work is subtle but these differences can have a large impact on our day. These differences are called genetic mutations or SNPs – singular nucleotide polymorphisms. Seeing and understanding your own SNPs can be the difference between feeling at the mercy of events beyond your control, to finely tuning your environment, learning the signs, understanding your body and finally knowing what to do about it!
If you are very fast at making, let’s say adrenaline and you have a slow COMT, you can imagine how a person could get very quickly overstimulated and then be unable to clear that adrenaline away and so find it very difficult to relax. They could be supercharged with adrenaline and be absolutely unable to clear it out of the body. Imagine you had a long and stressful day at work, the train was delayed on the way home, you drank too much coffee in the afternoon (which stimulates adrenaline) and you finally get home, desperate to relax… and you… just…. can’t! You are bouncing off the walls, frustrated and exhausted and it takes hours to come down to earth, by which time it is bedtime and you have not been able to enjoy your evening and prepare for sleep.
Can you relate?
There is nothing you can do to change your genes, but there is a lot you can do to change how they work.
Epigenetics is the science of how your genes either express themselves (switch on) or are silenced (switch off). Just because you have a gene like BRAC, which is a gene for breast cancer. Doesn’t mean you are determined to actually express that disease. It’s about how your environment (which includes you and your diet by the way) directs your genes to behave.
Once we know this, we can see just how much could actually be within our control and we can start to put together a mental map of the blueprint of our body.
To understand how we tick in all situations, is hugely empowering.
We start to realise that the choices we make at every meal time and in every situation have a direct effect on what comes next, and next week and even next decade. We have a choice, agency and at least finally, some control!
So, how do we affect our COMT gene?
Firstly it helps to know if that gene is actually running fast or slow and you can only do that with a DNA test. If you know because you already have your test to hand then great, here are some tips for you!
Remember! We actually never interpret just a gene on it’s own, in isolation, we look at the big picture. Interpretation of your DNA is an art that needs to be combined with an understanding of your diet, your symptoms, your goals and the behaviour of the other genes which feed into and out of the gene we are looking at. Always have your genes interpreted by a nutrigenomics specialist naturopath. I do offer this service but so do many others too, choose the provider you resonate best with as your own relationship with your provider is paramount to your continued well-being.
Fast COMT – use Turmeric, Quercetin or Green Tea to slow it down and for their other health benefits like their anti-inflammatory and calming properties.
Result – If you find yourself distractible or unfocused then slowing down the COMT gene can bring a little focus back into your day and your work.
Slow COMT – Use Magnesium (glycinate, citrate or taurate) and or Zinc (ideally picolinate) and B vitamins, to speed up the activity and clear away the build up of neurotransmitters.
Result – This could be useful if you find yourself stressed and want to calm down, if you are wired on an evening for example or if you have oestrogen dominance symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings which you want to balance out.
BIG TIP for everyone! VITAMIN D
Vitamin D is involved in pretty much all processes in the body and for proper health this needs to be optimised. You need Vitamin D to make dopamine, adrenaline (epinephrine), Noradrenaline (norepinephrine), Serotonin, Melatonin and thyroid hormones amongst many, many other things. Without optimal Vitamin D levels your immune system may struggle to function well and in an actively cancering situation, that will create more problems. Speak with your naturopath about the right levels of Vitamin D for you and look out for another substack all about the VDR – Vitamin D gene so that you know what the right levels are that you personally need in your body.
In terms of how it applies to cancer, COMT is particularly important for cancers like Breast, Ovarian, Colorectal, Prostate, Endometrial and all the oestrogen driven cancers. There is a higher risk of these cancers when we have higher oestrogen levels in the body. We need to open up the channels to make sure that COMT works as well as possible to clear out oestrogens and this can only be possible if we are methylating properly. The MT at the end of COMT stands for Methyl Transferase and we need to have what we call methyl groups available for that transfer to take place. This depends heavily on your diet.
Main – Photo by Sangharsh Lohakare on Unsplash
