I want to start this article by immediately making it clear that not everyone requires supplemental B6. This is a very common mistake—and not an innocent one either.

Taking B6 when you don’t need it can lead to “toxicity” symptoms (for the record, I don’t agree with the mainstream understanding of B6 “toxicity” and absolutely believe it can be reversed much more quickly and effectively than by simply “waiting it out” and supporting hydration/vasodilation—the prevailing approach—but that’s another story).

Those “toxicity” symptoms generally begin as neuropathy, like the kind you get with diabetes: tingling in your toes and so on.

But some people absolutely do need B6 supplementation…

“Common Ingredient in Energy Drinks May Increase Risk of Cancer”

”Ingredient in Energy Drinks Linked to Blood Cancer Risk”

You’ll have seen popular new outlets blaring these titles over the last several days. I’d like my readers to know that these titles are entirely misleading and potentially even harmful.

Yet another article is titled:

“This popular drink may increase the risk of blood cancer, warn doctors”

I, for one, am not of those “doctors.”

Something's been on my mind lately, and I wanted to share it with you all:

What is it that really plagues the medical field today? What makes the medical field so endlessly incapable of truly healing, rather than just keeping people locked into a self-perpetuating system?

Why Anxiety, Insomnia, and Fatigue May Come from Hidden Iron-Based Catecholamine Overload: “Wired but Tired” Syndrome.

A surprisingly common scenario these days: anxiety, poor sleep, feeling overstimulated yet exhausted, "wired but tired," and daytime fatigue despite restless nights.

Sleep is undoubtedly one of those lingering mystery of modern science. It’s tempting to say that it’s one those “last frontiers”—i.e. those things that we still don’t really understand, despite how much we apparently know—like the trenches of the ocean, or deep outer space…

But, of course, that’s not true.

Methylfolate has dramatically increased in popularity over the past few years. While most multivitamins and B-complex supplements used to contain only folic acid—the synthetic and potentially harmful form that I strongly discourage—many brands now include the so-called "methylated" form of folate instead. This shift is largely driven by the skyrocketing interest in MTHFR gene testing and the assumption that methylfolate is always better.

But is it really?

Multivitamin supplementation is extremely common. Probably somewhere around one in three U.S. adults takes some form of multivitamin on a regular basis, hoping to improve their health. That hope is often directed toward reducing the risk of disease—namely chronic illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and so on—or simply improving day-to-day functioning (i.e., “feeling better”).

The problem is: I do not recommend multivitamin supplementation for the vast majority of people—for the vast majority of multivitamin formulations on the market.

Managing slow COMT variants requires a tailored mix of (balanced) methylation-supporting strategies, neurotransmitter-modulating strategies, and so on. However, these measures may at times clash with those required for the management of sulfur intolerances.

Starting with the most general question—i.e. how much protein should someone with slow or fast COMT function consume—my answer is pretty straightforward…

There is a society-level push to distance humans from human nature.

Consider the claim commonly made by health influencers and media pundits that “just because something is ‘natural’ it doesn’t mean that it’s ‘better.’”

Then just look at the sheer number of articles written…

The CBS gene is an incredibly important gene that can affects things like your mood, perceived energy levels, susceptibility to heart disease and cancer, your ability to tolerate high protein diets, and a lot more.

Caffeine (through coffee, tea, or otherwise) has the clear potential to interact with different COMT variants in different ways. I discussed some of this in a previous article, where I covered how caffeine can actually increase the risk of heart attacks in people with slow COMT variants. But what about fast COMT variants…