Tag: liver health

COMT and neurotransmitters

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

(COMT) is an enzyme that helps break down catechol compounds, including neurotransmitters like:

  • Dopamine
  • Norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
  • Epinephrine (adrenaline)

COMT works by transferring a methyl group from S‑adenosyl methionine (SAMe) to those molecules, which helps deactivate them.

It is active mainly in:

  • the liver
  • the brain (especially the prefrontal cortex)

So the basic biochemical idea in your text is correct.

COMT genetic variants

There are known variants of the **COMT gene. The most studied is the **Val158Met COMT polymorphism.

This variant affects how quickly COMT breaks down dopamine.

  • Val/Val (“fast COMT”) → dopamine broken down faster
  • Met/Met (“slow COMT”) → dopamine broken down slower

People with slower COMT may have:

  • slightly higher dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex
  • sometimes increased stress sensitivity

Raw Beetroot contains betaine (trimethylglycine, TMG), which is indeed involved in the body’s methylation cycle.

Betaine helps convert homocysteine → methionine in the liver via the Betaine-Homocysteine Methyltransferase (BHMT) pathway. This supports production of S‑adenosyl methionine (SAMe), which is the body’s main methyl donor.

SAMe is used in hundreds of processes, including:

  • Neurotransmitter metabolism (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine and more)
  • Liver detoxification
  • DNA methylation
  • Hormone metabolism

It is your choice if you would want to try raw betaine juice or not to see if it helps with your sleep, reducing the anxiety or reduce your cholesterol and or homocysteine.

Medically there is no research for the natural things, and as we know nobody is going to sponsor things that are for free, or that might work without medication!

I am a great advocate or checking if your liver works well, genetically, and there is a lot that it can be said for different gene pool and gene variant.

If you would like to be tested (private tests with genetic company, extra costs). Book an appointment and we go from there, or we try dietary changes, lifestyle changes and more to get you into health!