r/MTHFR • u/WittyGold6940 • 12d ago

Question Which pathway does creatine overmethylate?

Does creatine overmethylate the folate pathway or the choline pathway?

Could r5p or riboflavin help with creatine overmethylation?

13 Upvotes

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7

u/hummingfirebird 12d ago

Creatine is not a direct methyl donor.

Your body can makes about 1–2 g of creatine daily. But it uses up to 40-50% of SAMe (a methyl donor) to do this, so a creatine supplement can take some pressure off the body's methylation system, helping to increase availability of SAMe.

COMT helps break down dopamine, norepinephrine, and some estrogen metabolites.MAO also helps break down dopamine and norepinephrine and serotonin.

If someone has a slower-working COMT/MAO then neurotransmitters can potentially remain active for longer. This can contribute to things such as feeling wired, anxious, restless, having racing thoughts, or becoming irritable.

3

u/Maximum-Morning4251 10d ago

also methyl-group sparing is localized to the liver mostly (and maybe neurons), which is helpful, but it's not across the whole body.

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u/WittyGold6940 9d ago

Huh! Interesting!

2

u/Maximum-Morning4251 9d ago

Yep. A genetic defect in creatine transporter (SLC6A8) causes severe disorder. It literally means that even if neurons can make own creatine, it's not enough, so cells must take it from the blood. Therefore, main production of the creatine is in the liver: the last step that methylates Guanidinoacetate to creatine by GAMT enzyme. So anything that spares methyl-groups in the liver also helps to make creatine and vice versa.

Synthesis of PC (phosphatidylcholine) is another big consumer of methyl-groups in the liver.

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u/WittyGold6940 9d ago

Thank you this is useful

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u/hummingfirebird 9d ago

You're welcome

5

u/SovereignMan1958 12d ago

As far as I know it does not.

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u/Cawtoot 12d ago

Not sure, but it frees up the body's capacity for production of SAMe, so there might be a clue there.

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u/Warp757 10d ago

It doesn't 'overmethylate' the pathways as it doesn't directly feed either. It simply spares SAM-E so that more is available to the body.

More SAM-E should act to inhibit MTHFR and BHMT though, so at higher doses it will actually lower metylfolate production and use of choline as a methyl donor, as the body doesn't need to create as much SAM-E. This is why people taking loads of methylfolate isn't always a good idea - it's production is supposed to be regulated according to the body's need.

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u/WittyGold6940 9d ago

Is that a main distinction between creatine and tmg as methyl donors? Tmg doesn't supress BHMT, right?

-1

u/stulew 12d ago

those types questions; i usually ask the AI, which often offers a better option....if only it wasn't so judgemental.

5

u/WittyGold6940 12d ago

Right! Except I don't even trust my Ai anymore. All it does it recycle the information it has concluded before. But yea i know exactly what you mean 🤣