B vitamins and Methionine Improve Health

High levels of Vitamin B6 and the amino acid methionine cut lung cancer risk by half -

Methionine is a sulfur bearing amino acid that is necessary for health.  As a "methyl donor", methionine contributes to the formation of numerous important compounds in your body. This process is called "methylation". As a sulfur donor, methionine aids body detoxification processes, and assists in converting other sulfur-bearing amino acids - like glutathione - to S-adenosyl methionine (SAM-e).

SAMe is an active compound made from methionine and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). SAMe acts as a methyl donor in many biochemical pathways including detoxification of harmful products of metabolism.  It is needed to build neurotransmitters, cartilage, and glutathione.
Glutathione production is very important in anti-aging and helps reduce cellular oxidation, acting to prevent cancer. It mixes with toxins to form water soluble compounds that can be eliminated from the body.

Deficient "methylation" is implicated in mood deviation. Diets that are deficient in methionine may result in destructive tissue breakdown and poor protein metabolism.

Methionine is an essential amino acid and help make cysteine from food.  Its sulfur compounds promote healthy hair, skin, and nail growth. Sulfur increases bile flow, reduces liver fat and cholesterol, helps eliminate heavy metals and toxins, and protects your kidneys while blocking ammonia build-up in urine.
Methionine plays a key role in regulating the availability of folic acid (vitamin B9). Methionine deficiency interferes with your ability to use B9 and may cause a build up of unusable B9.

Food sources of methionine include Sunflower seeds, sesame seed, pumpkin seed, eggs, garlic, onions, yoghurt, cottage cheese, fish, sardines, beef, pork, chicken, lentils, Brazil nuts, peanuts, and almonds.

Soy is deficient in methionine.

Vegans or those eating low protein diets are at risk for deficiency.

Indications for use: Mood depression, excess alcohol use, liver health, antioxidant support, immune support, and to help maintain copper levels

Crystalline L-methionine is most readily absorbed, and it is best to take this amino acid in a combination with B complex, taurine, cysteine, vitamin B6, and folic acid.   Complete B complex vitamins and amino acids are available in our organic nutritional yeast.

More about methionine  and  also here


Creating Health Institue recommends taking a high quality multi-vitamin/mineral before adding additional supplements.

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Posted in: B Vitamins,cancer,lung cancer,methionine,natural health news

Fourteen Articles on Natural Health News Related to Pancreatic Cancer and...

Here is number 15, dating back to 2007, that may not have been brought to your attention. Methionine is a sulfur bearing molecule necessary to health and healing.

Methionine may ward off pancreatic cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Higher methionine intake is apparently associated with a reduction in pancreatic cancer risk, according to a report in the January issue of Gastroenterology.

Impaired methyl group metabolism may contribute to pancreatic diseases and carcinogenesis, the authors explain, suggesting that methyl group donors like methionine could influence the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Susanna C. Larsson from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and associates examined intakes of methionine and vitamin B6 in relation to the incidence of pancreatic cancer in the Swedish Mammography Cohort and Cohort of Swedish Men. The study comprised nearly 82,000 men and women aged 45 to 83 years.

During a mean follow-up of 7.2 years, 147 incident cases of pancreatic cancer were diagnosed.

The multivariate rate ratio for pancreatic cancer was 0.44 for individuals in the highest quartile of methionine intake compared with those in the lowest quartile, the researchers found.

The inverse association between methionine intake and pancreatic cancer was more pronounced in smokers than nonsmokers, the investigators note. There was no interaction between alcohol consumption and methionine intake and pancreatic cancer risk.

There was no significant association between vitamin B6 intake and pancreatic cancer risk, the report indicates.

"The results from this prospective study suggest that higher intake of methionine may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer," Larsson and colleagues conclude. "Foods rich in methionine include fish, poultry, meat, legumes, and dairy products," they add.

"The results could be important because pancreatic cancer, now the 4th most common cause of cancer mortality in the United States, has an extremely high mortality rate," write Dr. Albert B. Lowenfels and Dr. Patrick Maisonneuve from New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York in a related editorial.

"Even though the authors adjusted for many pancreatic cancer risk factors," the editorial goes on, "there is still the possibility that the apparent protective function of methionine is related to confounding by another dietary or nondietary protective factor."

Lowenfels and Maisonneuve conclude: "Before suggesting that our patients increase their intake of methionine, we need substantial additional data concerning efficacy and safety issues."

Gastroenterology 2007;132:113-118,441-443.

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Posted in: methionine,pancreatic cancer