PON1 SNP: Are you sensitive to medications and chemicals?
Are you sensitive to medications, certain chemicals or pesticides? If you are homozygous positive (+/+) for the PON1 (paraoxonase 1) gene, you need to stay away from nuts and foods containing pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. You will have a lot of trouble clearing the metabolic waste and poisons from your body. A PON1 gene means poisons build up. This gene is probably common in people with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) because they react to everything. PON1 means there is trouble breaking all synthetic chemicals, including pharmaceuticals. You don’t think of pharmaceuticals as synthetic chemicals but that’s what they are. Drugs are not natural!
So if you have a PON1 gene SNP, especially in combination with a methylation gene SNPs, and the need for medication should arise, you should heed my advice: start with very low doses of medicine to make sure you don’t over-react and always follow up with your doctor.
Your PON1 gene will make you hyper-reactive to medicine. The PON1 gene will also badly affect you if you have high homocysteine and it may cause high levels of a dangerous metabolite called 'homocysteine thiolactone.' It can have catastrophic effects on a person’s life. It is bad news for your brain and body. Homocysteine thiolactone can cause mental status changes and seizure-like activity. If your physician doesn’t catch this, you will be treated with anti-seizure drugs forever, and still have breakthrough seizures and the reason is because nothing is being done to treat the true underlying cause of the seizures (the high thiolactone).
Dr. Ben Lynch, my guru, uncovered research to show that Valtrex is a medication which reduces homocysteine thiolactone. Once you go off the drug, the homocysteine thiolactone climbs back up so you still have to try to find out what is causing the high homocysteine (almost always a methylation block, see www.MTHFR.net). PON1 is very much involved in the methylation process.
You can go through the ‘back door’ if you have a PON1 gene, especially if you have a 'SNP' intelligent practitioner who understands what makes it run. Two minerals that come to mind that help a PON1 gene include low dose copper, and low dose calcium. Find out more on our MethylGenetic Nutrition AnalysisTM page and learn more about your genetic makeup and how it affects your health and longevity!
The PON1 enzyme is responsible for the clearing of environmental toxins such as pesticides and also making HDL cholesterol.