I experienced five miscarriages. Fortunately, I am blessed with three healthy children; two boys ages 11 and 7 years, and an 8-month-old girl. However, wide gaps exist between their ages because of my many losses along the way. With each miscarriage, I became pregnant quickly, but lost the baby within the first trimester. There were no obvious warning signs; one moment I felt fine and the next moment, I lost the baby.
After my first miscarriage, I tried many strategies in an attempt to prevent a second loss, such as a clean diet, clean water, stress management, positive affirmations, and continuing to consume prenatal vitamins. After the fourth miscarriage, I elicited help from the top fertility specialist in the state. He couldn’t help me either. After running a gamut of tests, he concluded there was “nothing wrong” with me. My biological age was 10 years younger than my chronological age, so he advised me to “stop stressing about it” and sent me on my way. Shortly after that visit, I became pregnant again and suffered from a fifth miscarriage.
Fortunately, last year I gave birth to a healthy nine-pound baby girl. However, once again, I almost lost her during the pregnancy. We made it through the first trimester with no obvious health problems, except severe nausea which was dismissed as “normal.” Then, during month four, I began to bleed. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped quickly, but the medical doctors and I were baffled. There were no obvious warning signs that something was wrong; the pregnancy was textbook in terms of the health of my baby and myself. So, what happened?
- Regulating gene expression
- Repairing damaged cells
- Creating neurotransmitters that influence mood, sleep, behavior, cognition, and memory
- Building immune cells
- Antioxidant production
- Processing hormones, such as estrogen
- Producing energy
- Detoxifying the body
Test results revealed that I have a genetic variant of the MTHFR gene, which means I have a decreased ability to clear toxins from my body. It also partially explains why I suffered from five miscarriages (all during the first trimester) and almost lost my baby girl in month four of pregnancy.
- Folic acid is the synthetic form of vitamin B9. The body doesn’t metabolize synthetic folic acid in the same manner as naturally produced folate. For instance, folic acid sits on the folate receptor and isn’t metabolized properly into methylfolate. Furthermore, synthetic folic acid can outcompete natural sources of folate, such as folate derived from green leafy vegetables and liver. Consequently, synthetic folic acid can block methylation. In other words, the same supplements that doctors are recommending to prevent neural tube defects could be contributing to miscarriage in women who have a variant of the MTHFR gene.
- Furthermore, neural tube defects aren’t the result of folic acid deficiency. They are, in fact, the result of a methylation deficiency. Therefore, one can argue that folic acid supplementation may be harmful to some women and unborn babies.
- Prior to trying to conceive, I would have utilized a functional test to determine possible nutrient deficiencies. Based on the results, I would have modified my diet and, if needed, added specific supplements to replenish the missing nutrients.
- I would have increased my consumption of foods naturally rich in folate, including organic leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, and romaine lettuce, as well as small amounts of liver (from regeneratively raised animals).
- I would have chosen whole foods instead of processed foods with every meal. Many processed foods contain added synthetic folic acid due to government requirements. Therefore, I would have replaced all processed foods with whole foods.
- I would have checked the nutrition label of my prenatal vitamin. If folic acid was listed, I wouldn’t have consumed that particular supplement. Instead, I would have consumed a prenatal vitamin that contains 5-methyl-THF (5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate), which is a form the body can use.