The Truth About Folic Acid: MTHFR, Prenatals & What to Take Instead | Dr. Ben Lynch

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Realfoodology
Host: Courtney Swan
Episode: The Truth About Folic Acid: MTHFR, Prenatals & What to Take Instead
Guest: Dr. Ben Lynch
Date: May 5, 2026

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Main Theme

This episode dives deep into the misunderstood topic of folic acid, the genetic implications of MTHFR, and what pregnant women (and everyone) should consider about prenatal vitamins. Dr. Ben Lynch, an expert in epigenetics and supplement formulation, joins Courtney to unravel myths about folic acid, distinguish between folic acid and natural folate, explore the nuances of methylated vitamins, and discuss the links between these nutrients and anxiety, pregnancy outcomes, and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Folic Acid vs. Folate: Understanding the Difference

• Folic Acid

  • Folic acid is a fully synthetic compound created in labs; it does not exist in nature ([35:41] Dr. Lynch).
  • It is added to processed foods and mandated in infant formula in the US ([42:53] Dr. Lynch).
  • Folic acid binds strongly to folate receptors, blocking natural, usable folates from entering cells—especially the brain—leading to deficiency ("Folic acid is a dangerous chemical that is dramatically interfering with our ability to think, produce healthy babies, to do every function basically in our body" [39:38] Dr. Lynch).

• Folate (Methylfolate, Folinic Acid)

  • Folate is the umbrella term for natural and certain synthetic-but-bioidentical B9 vitamins, found in leafy greens, beans, and liver ([36:29] Dr. Lynch).
  • Methylfolate is the most bioavailable, active form used by the body.
  • Folinic acid is another safe, effective form, and Dr. Lynch believes it may be even better than methylfolate for many, especially during pregnancy ([33:44] Dr. Lynch).

2. MTHFR: Myths, Realities, and Personalized Supplementation

• MTHFR Gene

  • The MTHFR gene is only one of 18,000 genes ([03:06] Dr. Lynch).
  • Variations (like 677T) reduce—not eliminate—enzyme activity; it's not a "broken" gene ([05:40] Dr. Lynch).
  • Most functional/integrative doctors reflexively recommend methylated vitamins for MTHFR, but not everyone tolerates them well ([01:32] Courtney).

• Supplementation Strategies

  • Many experience a "honeymoon" when starting methylfolate—clearer thinking, better mood—but can quickly progress to side effects like anxiety or headaches if continued without individualization ([08:02] Dr. Lynch).
  • Dr. Lynch advocates for bioindividually tailored dosing:

    "A supplement means to add to or enhance. You can't add to or enhance an already good feeling because you're going to feel worse … overexcited is anxiety." ([17:12] Dr. Lynch).

  • The “Pulse Method”: Use supplements as needed, pause when topped up, and only resume if deficiency symptoms return ([11:11] Dr. Lynch).

• Testing

  • Homocysteine is a helpful, accessible marker for methylation status; optimal is under 7 µmol/L ([28:56] Dr. Lynch).
  • Labs should be seen as guides, not absolutes, due to day-to-day fluctuations and imperfect reference ranges ([19:01] Dr. Lynch).

3. Methylated Vitamins & Anxiety

• Methylated folate (methylfolate) can cause anxiety and other symptoms (headaches, mood swings) if overused, especially in those with certain MTHFR genotypes ([46:50] Dr. Lynch).
  • "You're getting a plethora of neurotransmitters in your brain, more than your brain can handle." ([46:50] Dr. Lynch)
  • "When I switched from methylfolate to folinic acid, the reduction of anxiety in my body was profound. It really changed my life." ([77:50] Courtney)
• Nicotinic acid (niacin) can rapidly reverse over-methylation symptoms ([78:00] Dr. Lynch).

4. Prenatal Supplement Recommendations

• Avoid folic acid in prenatals—opt for folate forms (methylfolate or folinic acid) ([33:43] Dr. Lynch).
• Folinic acid may be preferable to methylfolate for many, especially those who are sensitive ([34:34] Dr. Lynch).
• The supplement industry often exploits fear around MTHFR to sell methylfolate indiscriminately ([06:35] Dr. Lynch).

5. Broader Women’s and Pregnancy Health Topics

• Socioeconomic Status vs. Folate:
  Most reduction in neural tube defects was attributed to improved socioeconomic factors, not folic acid fortification ([25:13], [26:10] Dr. Lynch).

• Pregnancy & Methylation:
  Methylation is critically important for neural tube development and overall fetal health. Deficiency can lead to complications ([23:12] Dr. Lynch).

• Gallbladder Issues:
  Linked to low methylation/phosphatidylcholine during pregnancy ([23:01] Dr. Lynch).

• Autism & Neurodevelopment:
  Dr. Lynch connects folic acid exposure, Tylenol, and vaccines (shots in the arm) as risk factors that set the stage for neurodevelopmental issues, but underscores autism is multifactorial ([48:38], [49:53] Dr. Lynch).

• Tylenol in Pregnancy:
  Tylenol depletes glutathione; glutathione is essential for detoxification and antioxidant protection in fetal development ([53:11], [59:54] Dr. Lynch).

  “Will a woman who's taking Tylenol multiple times throughout her pregnancy increase the risk for her baby having autism? Yes, but what's the population? What is the subset? Well, the ones who already have low glutathione…” ([65:24] Dr. Lynch)

6. Diet, Lifestyle, and Supplement Practicalities

• Folate in Foods: Focus diet on foods without labels to avoid added folic acid ([60:33] Dr. Lynch).

• Carnivore/Whole Foods Diet: Improvements are often due to elimination of processed foods and thus folic acid ([57:38] Dr. Lynch).

• Morning Sickness:
  Strong link to histamine; managed by DAO enzyme (needs vitamin B6). Avoid histamine-rich and high-histamine-producing probiotic strains ([71:02], [72:52] Dr. Lynch).

  “Morning sickness is associated with histamine. If you support healthy histamine levels—either taking a probiotic that helps reduce histamine, avoiding those that increase it...it helps.” ([72:56] Dr. Lynch)

• Matcha/Green Tea in Pregnancy: Contains EGCG, a potent anti-folate, can deplete folate stores and inhibit natural folate metabolism ([00:00], [74:31] Dr. Lynch).

• Caffeine in Pregnancy: 25-50mg caffeine (about half a cup of coffee) is likely safe, but best to keep low ([81:23] Dr. Lynch).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Folic Acid’s Dangers

  "Folic acid is a dangerous chemical that is dramatically interfering with our ability to think, produce healthy babies, to do every function basically in our body. Well, and it's acting at a low, insidious, persistent effect that is making you dumb. And I honestly think, duh, conspiracy theory, possibly done on purpose."
  — Dr. Ben Lynch ([39:38])

• On Supplement Customization

  "A supplement means to add to or enhance. You can't add to or enhance an already good feeling because you're going to feel worse...overexcited is anxiety."
  — Dr. Ben Lynch ([17:12])

• On the MTHFR ‘Honeymoon’

  "There's a honeymoon period the first time you take methylfolate. It's like, whoa, where has this been all my life?...But at some point you’re going to have too much methylfolate and too much methylfolate causes problems."
  — Dr. Ben Lynch ([08:02])

• Courtney’s Transformation

  "When I stopped taking these methylated vitamins, [the anxiety] went away."
  — Courtney ([01:32])

• On Public Policy and Reform

  “There is no way that Kennedy can take folic acid out of food. Unless there is a mass movement supporting him, he will be politically derailed and destroyed by the savior of folic acid.”
  — Dr. Ben Lynch ([43:44])

• Folate Receptor Blockade by Folic Acid

  "Folic acid sits on this folate receptor alpha in the brain more strongly ... than methylfolate can. And it sits there. Methylfolate can't get in. And if methylfolate can't get in, there's nothing going on upstairs."
  — Dr. Ben Lynch ([48:07])

• Tylenol and Autism

  “Will one dose of Tylenol, you know, give your kid autism? No, it will not. ... Will a woman who's taking Tylenol multiple times throughout her pregnancy increase the risk for her baby having autism? Yes, but what's the population? What is the subset of pregnant women that are most at risk? Well, the ones who already have low glutathione.”
  — Dr. Ben Lynch ([65:24])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------| | 00:00 | Folic acid dangers; Matcha as anti-folate | | 01:32 | Courtney’s MTHFR story; anxiety with methylated vitamins | | 08:02 | Methylfolate honeymoon and side effect curve | | 11:11 | Pulse method for supplementation | | 15:24 | Dr. Lynch’s preferences for folinic acid | | 19:01 | Lab testing pitfalls and value | | 22:55 | Methylation’s role in fetal development | | 25:13 | Folic acid’s actual role in reducing neural tube defects | | 33:43 | Folinic acid preferred during pregnancy | | 35:41 | Folic acid origins and absence in nature | | 39:38 | Folic acid as a dangerous imposter | | 48:07 | Folic acid blocks brain folate receptors | | 49:53 | Autism risk factors; multifactorial causation | | 53:11 | Tylenol, glutathione, and risk for autism | | 59:54 | Eliminating folic acid: practical and population effects | | 65:24 | Tylenol metabolism in pregnancy; antioxidant needs | | 71:02 | Morning sickness, DAO enzyme, and histamine | | 74:31 | Matcha/Green tea as anti-folate | | 77:50 | Methylfolate-induced anxiety explained | | 78:00 | Using niacin to combat over-methylation symptoms | | 81:23 | Safe caffeine intake in pregnancy |

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Actionable Takeaways

• Avoid folic acid in all supplements and processed foods, especially if pregnant or TTC; opt for methylfolate or folinic acid.
• Personalize your supplementation: Use lab data (homocysteine), body feedback, and adjust doses or forms accordingly.
• Eliminate or substantially limit Tylenol during pregnancy, particularly if dealing with infertility or suspected low glutathione.
• Read labels vigilantly; seek whole, unlabeled foods where possible.
• Monitor sources of hidden folic acid, especially grains, baked goods, and infant formulas.
• Be wary of matcha and green tea in pregnancy due to anti-folate effects.
• Carefully vet supplements and consult professionals who understand these nuances.

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Additional Resources

• Dr. Ben Lynch:

  • Instagram
  • YouTube Channel
  • Seeking Health supplements
  • Book: Dirty Genes

• Further Reading:

  • Dr. Lynch’s guide on morning sickness (linked in show notes)
  • Articles and research on folic acid, Tylenol, methylation, and pregnancy at Dr. Lynch’s blog

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This episode is vital listening (or reading!) for expectant mothers, those with MTHFR variants, or anyone navigating the complex landscape of prenatal nutrition and wellness. Dr. Lynch and Courtney challenge conventional prenatal wisdom, advocating for science-backed personalization and a critical approach to synthetic vitamins and widely accepted medical recommendations.

Transcript

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Folic acid is actually really bad. Eliminating folic acid from my life was transformative. I actually got my brain back. I felt better, my energy was better, my mood was more stable. Matcha is worse than green tea. There's a compound called EGCG. It literally destroys folate. The research shows that 30 minutes to an hour that compound is still circulating in your blood during pregnancy. Not a good time to be taking something that's anti folate. Methylated vitamins can make some people anxious because you're getting a plethora of neurotransmitters in your brain, more than your brain can handle. In addition, you are inhibiting an enzyme that controls the elimination of methyl groups called gnmt. And GNMT controls how much methyl donors are in the body and methylfolate actively blocks it. So you are now having a huge amount of methylation groups in your body.

[Courtney]

Too much. Doctor Ben Lynch, I'm so excited to have you back on the podcast. I told you this before we started recording, but I posted in my DMs probably about a month or so ago because we've had to reschedule a couple times that you were coming on the podcast and I got four flooded with messages from people. People love you and we're so grateful for the information that you put out there for us. So thank you so much for coming on today.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, awesome. Glad we can get this going.

[Courtney]

Yeah, me too. So you know that I'm pregnant and I had actually reached out to you very early on in my pregnancy because I had come across some information that was new to me. So just to give my listeners context, I found out about, I think it's been about eight years now that I have MTHFR and I have the 677T. Do you call that variation?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Variant.

[Courtney]

Yep, variant. Okay. And I, for the last seven and a half years have been told by every doctor and practitioner that I've seen, which have all been, you know, functional, integrative doctors by the way, that I needed to be taking methylated vitamins. And then I came across some information which I believe was from you. Actually, I don't remember where I first saw it, but then I know I saw that you were talking about it, so I reached out to you, was that if, if you have certain variants of mthfr, methylated vitamins can actually make you more anxious. And this was exactly what was happening to me. In fact, this information completely changed my life. I immediately went from taking the prenatal that I was on before and I started ordering Your prenatal. The optimal prenatal mf, which doesn't have the methylated vitamins. And the difference that I saw in my overall baseline of anxiety was profound, honestly, in my, in my experience, because I'd always had this just low grade kind of. There's just this low grade anxiety that my body felt like, it was like, ooh, like tensed up all the time. And when I stopped taking these methylated vitamins, it went away.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Can you talk to us about that? Because when I started sharing about this on Instagram, I got a lot of questions from people, obviously, that were saying, wait, I thought we had to take methylated vitamins. What should we be taking instead if that happens? And does this happen to everybody with mthfr, or is that just a certain genetic variant that that affects.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, it's a great point and very common experience, which is why we might be the only company in the world, actually, which is crazy to think that offers four different prenatals, I think even five. And it is because women, and we're all, you know, genetically and epigenetically diverse, and we're the only one in the world that has a folinic acid prenatal, as far as I know. And that is because I was observing exactly women like, you know, struggling with the same situation as you were. And thankfully that's past tense because a lot of people have been struggling for years. And the, the reason why people struggle with methylfolate more or methylated nutrients more. The short answer is I don't really know, but I have theories, and the theories do seem to make sense biochemically and physiologically. So let me back up a little bit and talk about MTHFR. So MTHFR is one gene out of 18,000. And you've seen those Instagram reels, which are actually pretty cool, where people have these dominoes that there's some type of pattern and it mazes and they go over bridges and stuff and kick things. So that's how your genes work. So one gene will fire and trigger a cascade of events. And so when you supplement with methylfolate, you're. You're not just bypassing an MTHFR genetic variation. You're triggering a cascade of events via dominoes, and you're, you're accelerating that cascade of dominoes. And mthfr, we have to understand it is not broken, it's not something that you fix. It is simply reduced in its ability to produce a compound called methylfolate. And MTHFR677T, which is one variant or TT, which is two variants. If you have one variant, you're reduced in function by about 40%. So that means you have 60% capacity. So if you're eating your leafy greens, if you're eating Liverpool, gag me, but fantastic. And you're not taking certain medications like nitrous oxide, you know, at the dentist or other things, Your mthfr can handle 60% capacity. Now, if you're under tremendous amounts of stress, if you get exposed to certain medications that reduce your ability to, you know, utilize folate or it destroys folate, then you will need more methylfolate and then your MTHFR will be overwhelmed and your homocysteine levels go up. That makes sense.

[Courtney]

Yes.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So we think what happens is people think MTHFR is a disease and you think that you're diagnosed with a broken gene. It's not broken. It's like if you get in your car and you turn it on and you're going to the store that's five miles away, you look quickly at the gas tank and you're at, you know, 3/4 full or 50% full with the gas. You don't run to the gas station and freak out and, you know, fill a pass full, you're good. Now, if you go for a long road trip that's going to take you a few hours, you're going to say, oh, I think I'm going to fill up my gas and go to the store, you know, gas station, fill it up. It's the same thing with mthfr.

[Courtney]

Okay, interesting. Yeah, I think there's a lot of. From my experience, I'm finding a lot of people are finding out now about mthfr, they're starting to test their babies or testing themselves, but there's a lot of confusion about what it really means. So I think that's really helpful.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Well, and if I may interject a little bit on this, there's a lot of confusion because there's a lot of greed and it. People respond to pain and they respond to fear. Those are the two biggest purchase drivers in an economy. If you're scared, you're going to take action. If, if you're. And so what's going to happen is companies know this and so they're going to sell a genetic test in order to instigate fear, in order to then sell you a chain of things for you, either consultations or supplements or what have you. And then I don't, I think almost every single genetic report out there that talks if says if you have MTHFR they are going to tell you to take methylfolate straight up. And oh, by the way, we happen to sell it for you. So, yeah, I, I have a supplement company, I own a supplement company. I have a genetic report. I don't tell people to take methylfolate. In fact, I tell them, better not take it because you're gonna freak out.

[Courtney]

You know, in your experience, do you find most people get ramped up from methylated vitamins or is it really bio individual?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

I think what happens is there's a honeymoon period the first time you take methylfolate. It's like, whoa, where has this been all my life?

[Courtney]

You know, I felt that way in the beginning.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, it's just like, wow, this is amazing. Lightheaded, you know, clear head, ability to think fast, on your feet, driven, motivated, good mood, and you're just getting stuff done. Now you keep taking it. And imagine a bell shaped curve and you're down here in terms of your actual folate, you know, methylfolate levels in your body because 80% of the folate in your body should be methyl folate. Probably even 90% should be methyl folate. And so you've been deficient possibly for many, many years, potentially your whole life because of folic acid, which we'll get into later. And so you're replenishing your stores, you're peaking now. There's, you can only get so good. There's not gooder or goodest. They're not even words, they're best, but there's not bestest. So at some point you're going to have too much methylfolate and too much methylfolate causes problems. And the long and the short of it is too much methylfolate can cause excessive neurotransmission, it can cause excessive oxidative stress, which is free radicals and it can damage things. And so it becomes really problematic. And we also need to understand that folate is stored in our liver. It's stored there. So you topped off. So how long was your honeymoon period with methylfolate? If just guess to me, was it a week, was it two weeks? A few days?

[Courtney]

Oh man. It's hard for me to remember because it was about eight years ago when I started it, you know. Yeah, it probably would have just been a couple weeks because I remember the last, I've been on this journey for the last like eight years or so trying to figure out where I've always had some anxiety that I could connect things to. But then I also had this low grade anxiety that now looking back I think were the methylated vitamins that I have been chasing for the last eight years trying to figure out a remedy of how to get rid of this anxiety. And so, yeah, I don't remember exactly when, but I just know that I've had this low grade anxiety that I was mentioning earlier that it was almost like my body was like ramped up.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

The way I described it is it was an anxiety that didn't, I didn't know where it was coming from. Like I could, some anxiety I could place. It's like, oh yeah, I have this really big thing coming up or you know, I had some traumatic stuff happen to me as a kid, but then there was a different type of anxiety where it was like my body was like ramped up. I don't know how else to explain it.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

No, it's. I, I had the same thing and for me, my honeymoon period, like you, I don't exactly remember because it was 15 years ago, but you know, because I found out I had the MTHFR677 and the 1298. So my MTHFR gene is functioning, you know, a 30 capacity, but it's 30 capacity. And so, you know, if I eat well and I'm not under tremendous amounts of stress, I don't exercise extremely hard exercise can cause problems for mthfr and so can fever and so on. But my honeymoon period was about, God, maybe just a few days and I started getting a mild headache, but I kept taking it because of course I have anti shvar, so I have to keep taking it. And this is the problem.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

If you think that, you know, well, you find out you have MHGR genetic variant. You are told that you have to take methylfolate for the rest of your life and you can take it. You take it consecutively and you feel really, really good. And then a week later or a few days later or a month later, you start feeling worse and progressively worse. You're not going to blame the thing which gave you that amazing clarity which you missed out on your whole life. So now you're going to the doctor and say, doc, I have this anxiety or I have these headaches. What's going on? So they now they prescribe something different. Yeah. So now you're stacking pharmacy on top of something that you should have been taking, what I call the pulse method. And the pulse method is simply the bell shaped curve. You have deficiency, you replenish that deficiency, you stop. And if you start falling back down again, you can add. Otherwise you become in no man's land and you start dropping on the other side and now you're kind of frantic and don't know what to do about it.

[Courtney]

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[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Maybe there's some, yeah, I, I, I like to start where things are less likely to cause a problem. And so folinic acid, which is a type of folate that most people aren't know or knowledgeable about. You know, Kennedy talked about it, Trump talked about it because of leucovorin. Now leucovorin is calcium folate, which is also known as folinic acid. So leucovorin, folinic acid, calcium, folate, same thing, unfortunately, multiple phrases and terms, but they're all the same thing. And so leucovorin is simply the prescription drug version which comes with plasticizers. Nice.

[Courtney]

Of course.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, of course it does. And then the, the supplement form, folinic acid is going to be significantly less expensive and no plasticizers. So I like starting out people with folinic acid, if they are sensitive, if some people are kind of, oh, I'm bulletproof, I can take a supplement, I, I don't feel a thing. Well, you might need to take the hammer of methylfolate and go for it. Now if we know ourselves, especially if you tune in and so I want you feeling. How am I feeling right now? You take a supplement 30 minutes later, depending on what it is, vitamin D, you're not going to Feel anything, Fish oil. You're not going to feel anything. But you take a folate like folic acid or methylfolate, you're going to feel something within. Especially if it's a lozenge, you'll feel it literally in about five to ten seconds.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Um, so feel the experience. Did your head gain clarity? Are you sharper or did you gain clarity and now you're starting getting a little bit anxious and a little bit of a headache. Okay. It still might be the right form for you, but you may have taken too much or you've taken it too frequently, which falls in the category of too much. The problem is on the back of supplement bottles there's a suggested use. And the problem is also you go to the doctor and the doctor says you have mthfr, you need to take methylfolate. Here's a supplement bottle. Take this. How much, doc? Take one every day after breakfast. All right. There's no individualization about your day to day experiences. Why? Because it's difficult to say that as a health professional. People want easy. They want the simple BO button. I mean look at, what was it, staples, you know, the easy button. You buy. Oh yeah, and, and it's great, but that's not how life is. Some days you feel great, you wake up in the morning, you feel great, you don't take full eight, you don't take any folate period on the days where you wake up. God, you know, I'm kind of had a, had a pretty eventful evening last night. I was drinking, you know, I traveled to a different state or a different country. Yeah, you're probably going to need some folate and so you take it. So my stance on supplementation is to define and understand the word first of all is what supplement means. Supplement means to add to or enhance. Again, you can't add to or enhance an already good feeling because you're going to feel worse because you now you're over excited and overexcited is anxiety.

[Courtney]

I like that. Well I, I like your message of really tuning into your body because this is what I tell people all the time. At the end of the day you, you know, and you, once you start paying attention and taking mental notes of it, you're going to be able to figure it out. I also too, I'm a huge proponent for testing, not guessing. So get lab work done, see what your baseline is, see where you are and then if you can, I like to get blood work done every six months just to see where everything is and make sure that Everything's on track.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, there's, there's, there are camps for this for sure. And for me, testing certain things is very powerful information. The problem with labs is they can change the night before. You know, you can get a different, you can get a different value from doing something the night before or even on the way to get your blood drawn. If you're listening to your favorite song, you're having a good conversation with a person sitting next to you, there's no traffic, everything's fine, you had a good night the night before, everything's great. Your labs are going to show that now, of course, HbA1c, you know, that's a 90 day average of your red blood cells, your blood glucose, but blood glucose actually can change. But HbA1c, that's a 90 day average. So things that you know are slow and they don't get the, the day to day variations. Hormones change on a dime. Your thyroid could completely be different from, you know, the moment that you get your blood drawn, you know, or yeah, it can be different based upon how you're doing that day. And so that is, there's no understanding with that. And then you also have to say, okay, well, what are the lab values? What are the ranges? And you have to understand that a lot of labor ranges are determined by a very, very narrow population. And it's usually, you know, 50 people. And they paid 50 people or they just took their employees and they just drew their blood and look at an average and bang, there it is. Do you have any sickness or. Illness? Fill out a survey. No, I feel fine. And then that's the average. So I actually ordered for a long time and recommended this test for a long time for methylation status. And it, it checked your folate levels, special folates. You looked at your methylfolate, fluic acid, folic acid. And it looked at homocysteine. Homocysteine and acidylcine, methionine, and saw. And, and I was like, wow, that's a great test. And so I was ordering it and I, I kept kind of getting the same results for almost every patient. And I was like, you know, either I don't know how to read this or I'm telling you something's wrong. Yeah, something's wrong here. And so I learned, and I don't know where I learned it from, but I, I asked the lab, I said, where did you get your, how did you define the ranges? Because everybody's falling in within the normal range. Oh, we use medical students. Okay, how many? 50 okay. And any other details? They were healthy. What? Determined? Healthy. They just said they felt good. I was like, wow, okay.

[Courtney]

Then crazy.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

You know, and so then you have ethnicity, you know, ethnicity and, and gender. You know, a man and a woman. Lab values can be different, so they, they don't take any account for that. So I, I am of the camp where testing could be useful, but so can also experimentation. But if you experiment, you have to tune in because fast acting supplements like the one I just took prior to joining in with you, that's already hit my head within, you know, 35th, you know, 30 seconds to a minute. And I felt I needed some more clarity because, you know, I got up, had a smoothie, but I didn't really exercise much, so I, I needed some more oomph in my head.

[Courtney]

That's amazing. Okay, well, that's good to know about the testing. I would go more down that route, but I have so many questions for you about methyl and baby. And I really want to get into folic acid too. So I'm curious because I get, well, I get a lot of questions about this and I'm genuinely curious about this. So what is your methylation status? How does that affect your baby in utero if you're pregnant?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

It's the thing. I mean, methylation status is the thing.

[Courtney]

And what can moms do about it? Cause I know there's a lot of concern with autism and making sure the baby gets enough nutrients and the baby's forming correctly and all that. And I think it can affect that.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, right. So methylation, what is, what is methylation? Methylation is a process that your body does and methylation turns on genes or it turns them off. That's, that's pretty significant. Or it transforms a compound into a different type of compound. It can transform your dopamine into norepinephrine. It can turn your histamine into N. Methyl histamine to start the process of breaking histamine down. It can transform your serotonin into melatonin so you can sleep at night, you know, so methylation is very, very important. The majority of your methylation is actually utilized to produce creatine. So there's 2. 80% of your, your body's methyl donors are, are used to do two things. Produce cell membrane compound and bile compound called phosphatidylcholine. And what happens during pregnancy? Commonly gallbladder issues. Why? Because phosphatidylcholine levels drop if phosphatelcholine levels are less than, I believe, a 2 to 1 ratio to cholesterol. The bile starts getting sludgy and thick and it can't go through this tiny little bile duct through a little tiny hole called the sphincter of Odi. I always think of Garfield when I say that. Poor Odie. He always got beat up. So, but, so pregnant women have gallbladder issues. And to me, that is a sign of methylation deficiency. There's also a massive hormonal component going on during pregnancy, which leads to, you know, phosphatidylcholine issues and gallbladder stagnation. And so it's not just one variable, but so that's what methylation does. Also, you hear about folic acid all the time. Why is, why was folic acid mandated by governments to put into food and prenatal vitamins? You know the answer. Why was it, why was it there?

[Courtney]

Well, because I think they thought that it was going to reduce neural defects.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Right, right, exactly.

[Courtney]

Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So we were all told that folic acid is designed to and and proven to reduce neural tube defects, especially in some populations. Well, there was a massive, massive research project that was done and they looked at the effectiveness of folic acid on neural tube defect rates. And they found overall, after looking at all of the different variables, that socioeconomic status was accounting for over 80% of why neural tube defects have been reduced in the population. So that leaves about 15 to 20% of folic acid doing maybe the rest of the lift. So if you say, okay, 20% reduction neural tube defects, that's still, you know, that's still something, you know. Yeah, but. Yeah, I don't want to get into it.

[Courtney]

Sound like it's big enough?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, it's. So we'll get into folic acid for a second, but methylation. So the reason why neural tube defects happen is because it's a methylation dysfunction. You need healthy methylation to have healthy neural tube formation. So neural tube defects are not a folic acid deficiency or a folate deficiency, when we'll get talk about those terms later. It's a methylation deficiency.

[Courtney]

One thing that I find myself reaching for every single morning is my manukora honey. Instead of using processed sweeteners, I do a heaped teaspoon into my coffee and it's become such an easy ritual that supports my health. And honey being one of the most functional foods, Manuka honey is truly in a category of its own. Manukora is rich, creamy, and the best tasting honey I've ever had. It's ethically produced in the remote forests of New Zealand where bees gather nectar from the Manuka tea tree, which is naturally packed with bioactives. That's what gives it three times more antioxidants and prebiotics than regular honey, helping support your gut and your cells, where so much of your immune system actually lives. It also contains mgo, which is a rare antibacterial compound that really sets it apart from other honeys. It's a total game changer, and all you need is one heap teaspoon in the morning to get the benefits. Now it's easier than ever to try Manicura honey. Head to manicora.com real foodology to save up to 31% plus $25 worth of free gifts with the starter kit, which comes with an MGO850 plus Manuka honey jar, five honey travel sticks, a wooden spoon, and a guidebook. Where does resilience actually come from? A lot of us assume it's just discipline or how hard we train, but really it comes down to what's happening at the cellular level. Because every single thing your body does, movement, strength, recovery, depends on energy. And that energy is produced by your mitochondria, which are basically the little energy factories inside your cells. As we age, those mitochondria can become less efficient. And that's when you start to notice dips in energy, strength and recovery, even if you're doing all the right things. That's been really interested in Mitopure from Timeline. It contains urolith and a which supports something called mitophagy, basically helping your body clear out damaged mitochondria and support healthier, more efficient energy production. It's about supporting the foundation of how your body actually creates energy. For me, it's really about protecting strength and resilience long term. Timeline's clinically proven formula is now available at a new, lower price. Mitopure now starts at 79 when you go to timeline.comrealfoodology so make sure you go to timeline.comreal foodology okay, so knowing that, how does a mother make sure that her methylation status is. Is sufficient?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Is.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Okay, that's a great question. And honestly, it. The easiest way is to look at your homocysteine levels. It is not the gold standard. But the gold standard is not, you know, do we really even know what the gold standard is? Maybe not, because there hasn't been enough research on it. But I would say Dr. Jill James, she's a researcher, she's talked about it in her papers. So if you Google Dr. Jill James and National Library of Medicine PubMed. You will find a lot of her research on autism and what she calls the sam and saw ratio. Samsaw ratio is the gold standard. I think there's one, maybe two labs that look at this in the world doctors data. Maybe one of them, they have a methylation panel, homocysteine, everybody knows every lab does it. It's cheap, it's fast and it tends to be pretty accurate and it's modifiable quite quickly. Within a month or so you can go back and take a follow up test. Now when we talk about testing, don't guess I'm with you on homocysteine, especially if you're looking to get pregnant, you and your partner, both of you, not just the woman. Guys, you need to get off your ass and start optimizing your health because you're donating half the chromosomes to this developing baby and so it's very, very important. So if homocysteine is greater than 7 micromoles per liter, then that is showing that your methylation status is a bit underserved. Why? Because homocysteine is a waste product of methylation and if you recycle it back then the homocysteine levels will stay good and they can keep making methylation. A lot of people think homocysteine is bad. They think histamine is bad. Histamine isn't bad, histamine is amazing. Homocysteine is amazing. Without homocysteine you've got no methylation. Methylfolate from MTHFR helps recycle homocysteine. Okay, okay. So methylfolate along with methylcobalamin recycle homocysteine into what I call methyl homocysteine. For some reason the scientists changed homocysteine into the term for methionine. So homocysteine gets recycled into methionine which then goes to Sammy. So but if you think of it as homocysteine gets methylated from methylfolate from mthfr, pretty simple steps. Homocysteine gets methylated, becomes methyl homocysteine. It makes sense. Methyl homocysteine with the addition of magnesium becomes same. Okay, okay. So magnesium deficiency is extremely important to address as well.

[Courtney]

So what happens in like for example, my case where I can't take the methylfolate, I'm taking folinic acid, Am I still getting enough?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

There was a research paper that was done I think last year and I talked about it and it was actually pretty interesting that individuals with who have the Mth4 genetic variation lower their Homocysteine better using folinic acid than methylfolate.

[Courtney]

Okay, that's good to know.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Interesting, right? Yeah, very interesting. Folinic acid doesn't directly recycle homocysteine. It has to go through a couple different genes in order for that to happen to make methylfolate. But methylfolate is the body's most active form of folate. No genes really control how much is produced. So I like the fact that folinic acid, and this shows evidence, Actually, folinic acid does multiple different things. It can go and make your white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, immune cells. It can make. It makes your DNA bases so it can repair tissues from sunburns or post surgery or hair loss from cancer. So all these things that folinic acid does, and then after that, folinic acid can get converted into methylfolate, and then methylfolate recycles your homocysteine. That's it. Okay, so MFR making methylfolate recycles homocysteine. That's it, folks. It doesn't do all these crazy other things that people are talking about on the Internet. Methylfolate recycles homocysteine, period. That's the direct effect. Now, indirect effects. You can go, you know, for days talking about all the indirect effects, but the direct effect, that's it.

[Courtney]

Okay, so that's good to know. So taking floric acid while I'm pregnant is okay?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

It's beautiful.

[Courtney]

Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Good.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

And. And I think actually taking folinic acid during pregnancy is possibly superior than taking methylfolate. And the reason is folinic acid. The path from folinic acid to get converted into methylfolate is a lot easier to convert methylfolate into folinic acid. Okay. Both can happen, but the process of converting methylfolate into fluoronic acid is very difficult. And I have an article and a video on YouTube that talks about the differences between methylfolate and folinic acid and why, what the benefits are of each so we don't have to get into it. We also have an article on our blog about it, so you can read it. And it's. Everything is referenced. So everything I talk about is referenced with research. Studies.

[Courtney]

Yeah. You are great with your research. You always have a lot of research to back up everything you're saying, which I really appreciate. Okay, so we've been. We've been dancing around this for a while, and I really. I'm excited to have this conversation with you about the folic acid versus folate, because I personally have been really invested in this conversation for the last year or so because this blew my mind when I figured out that we are adding folic acid to all of our grains. So we're adding folic acid to our flowers, which means that it's in our bread, it's in our crackers, it's in our cereals, and it's very hard to avoid folic acid. And now that I'm pregnant and I have MTHFR and knowing what I know about folic acid, I have been diligently reading every ingredient label and going, oh, this has folic acid. I'm not going to eat this now. It's a little bit easier for me because I'm gluten free. So there's not as much stuff that has folic acid in there, but I'm still finding it in things. And I want to. I want people to understand why we want to be taking folate and not folic acid. And what the effects are in the body when we're taking folic acid is.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah,

[Courtney]

you're like, where do I start?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, I think I'll start not all the way at the beginning, but close. Folic acid does not exist in nature. The form of folic acid is nowhere to be found on this planet. You're not going to find it in a leaf or an animal or a rock or in dirt or some bacteria. It does not exist. Folic acid is a chemical that was branded and named folic acid. So folic acid didn't exist. The term folic acid didn't mean exist until it was developed in a lab. Wow. The term folate comes from the word folr, which comes from the word which. Which then translates into foliage, leafy greens.

[Courtney]

Interesting.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

It's found in liver tissues, it's found in plants, it's found in vegetables, it's found in beans. It's naturally found in many, many places in this planet. So we have to change all the brainwashing that we've been having ever since we were literally born about folic acid, because folic acid is a chemical. There are some doctors that. I love what they did and I absolutely love what they've said about it. They were on. Who's the guy who was really big about vitamin D? John Campbell. John. Dr. John T. Campbell, I think it is.

[Courtney]

John T. Campbell. Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. So he's got a Sounds right? Yeah. He's got a YouTube channel quite popular. And he interviewed these two researchers about folate and folic acid. And they, they were phenomenal. Are Phenomenal. And so look for his video and I'll, I'll try to find it for you too, so I can email it to your team for the show notes. But they came up with the term folate. And it's if it's F, A, U, X, L, A, T, E, faux, meaning false in French.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

And I was like, wow, that is so cool. I wish I came up with that. But kudos to them.

[Courtney]

So, but that's for folic acid, right? Because folic acid is the synthetic version.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Exactly.

[Courtney]

And just to be clear so people understand. So. And I think you already made this clear. But I just always really like to say this in just like simple terms.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

So folic acid is synthetic vitamin B9. And folate is the naturally occurring vitamin B9 that we're finding in leafy greens and beans, et cetera, that you mentioned.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, close, close.

[Courtney]

Oh, I got that wrong.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Okay, well, you didn't get it wrong, but terminology is very, very important to get right. My grandfather always told me, ben, you gotta really define terms really well for people to understand. And so I used to say it the same way you just did.

[Courtney]

Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

The thing we have to be careful of is there are synthetic vitamins. Methylfolate is a synthetic vitamin. It's made in a lab.

[Courtney]

That's fair.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

But it's a bioidentical to that is which is found in liver and vegetables, is structurally exactly the same vitamin C that everybody says. Oh my gosh, vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is synthetic. Yes, it's synthetic, but it's bioidentical. It, it's the exact same chemical structure. Now they'll say, well, the energetics of it are different. Well, chemical structures, shape and compounds define the energy that comes off of it. Now then you also have the energy of the universe and all that. So you probably got me there. So vitamin C that is in a natural plant versus, you know, a synthetic man made ascorbic acid. Yeah. There probably is a minute energetic difference. But the effect, the overall effect is, you know, it's, it's bioidentical. So synthetic folate can be bioidentical.

[Courtney]

Got it.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Folic acid is also synthetic, but it is not bioidentical. It's a chemical, it's a fraud, it's an imposter. And it actually blocks your body's ability to utilize natural folate. It's actually extremely dangerous. Folic acid is a dangerous chemical that is dramatically interfering with our ability to think, produce healthy babies, to do every function basically in our body. Well, and it's acting at a low, insidious, persistent effect that is making you dumb. And I honestly think, duh, conspiracy theory, possibly done on purpose

[Courtney]

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[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Okay, well, let me ask this very simple question. Methylfolate is found in food. Folinic acid is found in food. They're both found in nature. Our bodies have been using them since humans have been on this planet. Folic acid. See, I didn't once did it myself. A chemical that has no biological effect in the human body at all has been on this planet around 1980. So, you know, 50 years put that in your head and doctors are mandating that pregnant women use it. And a lot of it, it's in our food, it's in our processed food, and it's in every single bottle of infant formula in the world by law.

[Courtney]

Is it really? Is it in Serenity Kids too? Because I've been suggesting that one for people.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Let me back up A little bit. It's by law, infant formula has to have folic acid in the United States.

[Courtney]

And Serenity Kids is actually labeled as toddler formula, which is why I tell. That is to do the toddler one. Exactly.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And it's also because they don't go by the. The pufa ratio that's required for infant formula, which I actually agree with. I think it should be higher saturated fat than. Than polysi. Polyunsaturated fatty acids.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

I've been wanting to make an infant formula with my. You know, by my company for. For many, many years.

[Courtney]

You should do it.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

I can't. I can't.

[Courtney]

It's probably. Really. It's. It's so hard to mimic breast milk. I'm.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

No, no, no, no, no. I can't, because I have to put. I have to put folic acid in it. Wow. So, folks, listening. We have Secretary Kennedy in office right now. Okay. Kennedy and I know each other. You know, we. I. I've actually voted for. I got a Kennedy bumper sticker on my car.

[Courtney]

I love him.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

He's a great guy. We've been on stages at autism conferences a few times, and his message is amazing. There is no way that Kennedy can take folic acid out of food. Unless there is a mass movement supporting him, he will be politically derailed and destroyed by the savior of folic acid. So we have to prove scientifically that natural folates that have been on this planet since humans have lived on it is superior than the folic acid that was introduced in the 1980s. I mean, it's common sense, but, you

[Courtney]

know, he's thankfully looking at all this. I do know. I actually just saw him last week. I had a meeting at the White House, and I had a meeting with him, and it was one of the many things that he brought up that he's working on right now, which is. He's calling Operation Storksby, which I'm sure you know about.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And he's looking at the regulations right now because the last time they. They revamped those regulations were in 1984.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Which is nuts.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So Operation Stork is specifically infant with infant formula, and that's great, but we also need to be looking at, you know, the recurrent miscarriage in pregnancy leads to 4 milligrams of folic acid, and so that.

[Courtney]

What do you mean, the miscarriage? So are you saying miscarriages are linked to folic acid consumption?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Uh, that I haven't looked at. That's an interesting question, but I haven't looked at that. No, I'm saying if a woman has. Has lost her baby and then she loses her baby again, the go to standard of practice by obstetricians and fertility specialists is to change the prescribed dose of folic acid from about 8, 800 micrograms or 600 micrograms, the whole dietary folate equivalent. Now, the DFE is. Is super confusing nowadays, but it used to be 800 micrograms of folic acid in a. In a prenatal. And then if you have recurrent miscarriage, it's now 4 milligrams. Oh, wow. And you're taking that every single day of your pregnancy. And so folic acid is an imposter, folks. It's an imposter. And so what does that mean? So basically, if, you know, if I'm just to throw you a ball, how's your hand going to look? Courtney, to try to catch a ball? Hold your hand up. Right.

[Courtney]

Okay. He'll occur.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Okay, I'm overthinking it. Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. But if I throw you a ball, what's your hand look like? And you catch it?

[Courtney]

Depends on how big the ball. Oh, yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

If you catch it like this, now what happens? Your hand, it closes. Right. Okay, now if I throw you the same ball, that same hand, what's going to happen?

[Courtney]

Wait, what do you mean? Oh, if you are already holding the ball.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. If I throw you another tennis ball,

[Courtney]

I'm gonna have to put it my

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

other hand, but you to catch it. Okay. Now if I throw you that ball and I throw it in that hand. Okay, you got two hands. And I throw you another one. Now what then?

[Courtney]

I'm shielding.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

You're shielding. Or maybe you can go for it like your dog and catching your mouth, you know, but the fact is, folic acid is a tennis ball. Your hands, possibly your mouth, are a receptor for the folic acid and for folate. And once you have that tennis ball in your hand, if it's folic acid, it's a tennis ball. It will not let go. It stays there. And then folate comes by. Let's say it's a softball. And you need the softball because you're playing the sports softball. But everybody's been throwing tennis balls and you don't have it. The softball just drops and it doesn't bind to the receptor.

[Courtney]

Interesting. Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Folate as methylfolate is the only form and folinic acid via a minor route or this type of folate that actually can get into the brain. So there's folate receptor Alpha, and then there's other ones. But fully receptor alpha is responsible for over 70 to 80% of transporting fully in the brain. Transporting. It has to be delivered. Folic acid sits on this folate receptor alpha in the brain more strongly. Higher affinity is a scientific term, more strongly than methylfolate can. And it sits there. Methylfolate can't get in. And if methylfolate can't get in, there's nothing going on upstairs.

[Courtney]

There's going to be a deficiency right in the brain.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Massive deficiency.

[Courtney]

And so this was one of my questions. Is this what now? To be clear with my audience, I. And I've shared this before, so we don't have to go into all of this. I want to. I want to talk specifically about folic acid and folate. I believe that autism is multifaceted, but I think that there's a connection here with this. And I think you also believe this. Is there a connection with autism and the folate not making it to the brain 100%. Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Folic acid, I mean, autism is a spectrum. I think I'm somewhere on the spectrum, Honestly, I think that I'm somewhere on the spectrum. I think Elon Musk is somewhere on the spectrum. I think most of us are somewhere on the autism spectrum. And it's not like, you know, there's a very strict set of criteria and you're just, you know, you're diagnosed as autistic. You know, it's. And you've seen different individuals, children mainly, but, you know, they're becoming. There's very, very few adults with autism. There are some, but very few. And, you know, there's teenagers with autism. Some do very, very well. High functioning autism. Right?

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So knowing that you're not the ones

[Courtney]

that we're concerned about.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. So. But autism is not going to go away. It's only increasing. And so, and I think there's, there's, from my research, there's a few major things going on. I would say primary is folic acid. I would say that's number one. That sets the stage, Sets the stage for failure. And everybody's saying, well, can I say the V word on your show or not?

[Courtney]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've done a lot of episodes with Aaron, Siri and Delbitri.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Okay. I just know that, you know, it's a sensitive topic. It's a sensitive topic and I don't want your, your, your videos to get throttled. So you might want to just bleep it out or something. So YouTube doesn't hear it.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Because it will, it will throttle your reach for sure.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So, but you know, the shots that goes to people's arms and kids arms, those, Those are a major factor, especially since they change the schedule. And a good friend of mine, you know, is, is, is behind a lot of that vaccine work. Dr. Paul Thomas, he wrote the. Yeah, the vaccine. Oh my gosh.

[Courtney]

Delayed schedule. Right.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, the vaccine friendly plan.

[Courtney]

Yes. But he came back later and said that he regretted writing that, I believe. Right. And then he wrote.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

He did. Yeah. But you know, because I asked him and, and he'll. He'll be fine with me saying this now too. Is. I said, okay, Paul, you know, you. You vaccinated over 18, 000 kids. And he was a staunch. YouTube deleted my interview with him. Wow. And my title of the video was Vaccines Don't Cause Autism. That was the title.

[Courtney]

And they still deleted it.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

And they still deleted it. And that is my stance. I don't believe vaccines cause autism. There's not a causal effect. There's a, There's a series of events.

[Courtney]

Yeah. That's why I think it's multifaceted.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

It is multifaceted. And, and as I was telling you before, that is this is going to be my next book and it's going to be raising hackles on a lot of people's backs because a lot of people are going to feel shame and mad and scared. But the fact is, this information has to get out there because the only way to reduce the incidence of autism from 1 in 20 something is to actually talk about it and make changes. And thank goodness for Doc, you know, for Secretary Kennedy, because he's the only one with enough, you know, cojones to deal with it. So folic acid is a huge one. Tylenol is another one. And the shots in the arm is another big one. And can we talk about why?

[Courtney]

So the Tylenol one, when I posted about that, again, everything we're talking about right now is really sensitive. And I understand, because of what you just said is that there's going to be. There's a lot of moms that feel guilt over the decisions that they've made. And I just want to say this really quickly that I don't think anybody, anybody should be feeling guilt over that you were taking advice from experts and doctors who you thought knew best. And I think a lot of the doctors think they know best. So not even trying to villainize them. Information is just not out there like it should be. And the thing with Tylenol, if I understand this correctly, And I want you to describe it. But what I understand with Tylenol is that it depletes the glutathione on your body, and then glutathione is what is able to actually. What's the word? Open your detoxification pathways. It supports your detoxification. Is that correct? To get all of this out. So, for example, if you're getting a lot of vaccines and you're getting injected with aluminum and there's other things in there, and you're also having an effect on your immune system from the vaccines, and then your glutathione is down, it's just creating this perfect storm for something bad to happen.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Right, and what, what do they call autism as well? It's a. It's a. It's a neurodivergence. You know, it's. It's. It's a neurological disorder. Okay, well, how do you get neurological dysfunction? Well, I would say first thing is nutrient deficiency. And if you have a nutritional deficiency that is functional. Because the argument is, which is really stupid, the argument of taking folic acid is that it has superior absorption over methylfolate.

[Courtney]

That's crazy.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

That's the argument. So my counter argument is, okay, if that's the situation, then we should all be breathing carbon monoxide, because carbon monoxide binds to our hemoglobin better than oxygen by about 200 times. It's more efficient at binding to our hemoglobin. Well, that'll kill you. Well, yeah, because you actually see that, you know, people die from it. So it's obvious. With folic acid, you don't see death, but you do see, in extreme situations, autism, less extreme situations. You see adhd, less extreme situations. I don't know. I would say different situation, not extreme. You see depression or inability to think or early onset dementia. You know, so. Or increased cancer risk. You know, all these. There's. There's a plethora of things that happen if you do not have sufficient folate in your brain. And the term. Folate is an umbrella term, like the term vehicle. A vehicle can be a truck or a car or a motorcycle. Those are vehicles. Folate is like vehicle. You have folic acid. Honestly, you should just get rid of that one. Cut that from the definition. And that should be gone from this planet completely. Then you have folinic acid and you have methylfolate. So when you hear someone talk about folate, you need to say, which one? If you say, I need to go buy a vehicle, you automatically think, oh, what are you going to get that's your first thought, right? Or I'm going to go shopping for some socks today. Oh, what kind? You know, sports socks, dress socks, you know, tube socks. What are you going to get? Oh, you know, I got to get some stuff for soccer. Oh, okay. So I got to get some folate. Whoa. Which one? Folic acid. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not that one. No, nobody takes that one. So it's methylfolate or flinic acid. So that needs to be the mindset, and you need to think that if you see folic acid, it needs to be the same thing, like Red 40 or MSG on the bottle. It's the same thing. It's a chemical. Folic acid is a lie. It's. It is a chemical. It's not a vitamin. It's a chemical.

[Courtney]

Yeah, that's really helpful for people. And. And I know I've been getting a lot of DMS from women saying. Because I've started talking about this more. Well, my doctor told me to take folic acid, and I'm like, no. Like, don't do it. Take folate. And then, of course, there's also people that love to come after us. And I saw somebody go after Paul Saladino for saying, take folate. And what they did is they just clipped off the part where he said, don't take folic acid. And they were like, this is such harmful information. We need it, and blah, blah, blah. But they cut out the part where he said, take folate, which I just thought. I just. Just.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Well, the Internet for a second, and. And Carnivore, Aelius and a lot of these other folks. And, you know, that. That talk about. And. And Sean Baker, that talk about Carnivore. So there's. There's. When I first met Paul, he was like, crazy carnivore. Like, he came to my house eating raw meat. Then that was it. I was like, paul, you know, dude, there's. There's bugs in there. There's worms in there. He goes, oh, I salted the hell out of it. And he goes, try some. I'm like, ah, what the hell? So, you know, he brought over some tenderloin or something that was salted heavily, and me and the boys ate it. And, like, wow, it's actually really good. It was raw. But then he's like, you know, Ben, I feel like I got some nutrient deficiencies. I was like, yeah, I bet. And I think you still should cook your meat. So he's come. He's. He's changed his diet from raw Meat to cooked meat to now adding in fruit, honey, dairy.

[Courtney]

And he does some squash too.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. In some root vegetables. Okay. And I love Paul. He's an extreme dude. But I, I, his, his message is great. I am nowhere near. My book is called Dirty Jeans. It's not perfect jeans. I mean, I eat my potato chips and, you know, I get exposed to seed oil sometimes and, you know, by choice and when I go to restaurants, but, you know, I, then I just can mitigate by doing other things. And, you know, Paul will, will still shake his head at me, you know, so same. But, but, you know, the carnivore diet is eliminating what, Realistically, if you, if you like the carnivore diet, like Paul's doing, where it's, it's adding also fruits and all that, it's completely eliminating folic acid, is completely eliminating processed foods. And I believe that is a huge reason why so many people get better on that food. Because it's food. Now, a diet that people follow is simply a narrower choice of foods that you're eating for a period of time. That's a diet. It's either quantity, diversity, type, or just a massive different change of what you're usually consuming. That's a diet. Now, diets, I think you have to be careful because they're trendy and they don't last long. You always think of a diet as temporary. When you're pregnant, a diet should be not temporary. It should be actually a way of life. And that's what Paul teaches. He teaches a way of life. He teaches you should eat these foods, walk the perimeter of the store, and buy the foods in the perimeter store. Don't even go in the middle aisles because that's all processed crap that's run by like three companies, all those different foods. So the elimination of folic acid I surveyed over, I think it was 4,000 people many, many years ago. I said, what was the number one thing that you learned from me? And hands down, not all the responses, but hands down, the majority response was eliminating folic acid from. My life was transformative. I actually got my brain back. I felt better, my energy was better, my mood was more stable. I mean, the list was on and on, but it was folic acid elimination.

[Courtney]

This is so fascinating. I'll be curious to. I want to encourage everyone listening if you haven't already, because my listeners are pretty smart and they're on a lot of this stuff. So if you have not already cut folic acid out of your diet, I want to challenge you to start reading all the labels for folic acid, train yourself to look for that because I had to train myself for that. I know, I know what everything else to look for, but I really had to train. Like I said at the very beginning of this episode was I'm reading the label specifically for folic acid now that I'm pregnant because I've really been wanting to avoid it. And I encourage you to read the labels and stop eating folic acid and see how much better you feel and Write me and Dr. Ben lynch and let us know how, how it's changed your life.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, I agreed with that. And, and the easy, easier way to do that is to buy foods without labels. Well, exactly, which is way but if you know that is processed foods are convenient and they're nice to have and you know, King Arthur is a type of flour that is gluten free that we use in our home for pancakes and stuff. And I don't do well with carbs. I'm a, I'm a very slow carb utilizer I guess so I can gain weight really quickly and get puffy and then I crash. So I really try to limit my carb intake because I just don't do well with it. If I have carbs for breakfast, I'm wrecked the rest whole rest of the day day protein for me is huge. And start your day with protein is another huge tip. But let's get back to the Tylenol. So we talked about folic acid. Just leave that alone. And it sets the stage for, for putting your child at risk for adhd. It puts your child at risk for autism development or any type of neurological dysfunction, any type learning dysfunction, memory, mood, anything, because it's, it's brain. And so the only way that your baby is going to get nutrients is, is through you. And again you have been told by books, the media, magazines, your grandparents, your parents, your friends, your, your everybody on the planet to take folic acid. So you thought that you were doing the best thing possible for your situation and your baby and in no way is it your fault. My job as a health professional is, is continuous ongoing improvement. Typically doctors are satisfied when 70% of their patients have success. They think that's a good thing. Oh yes. At about 70% of my patients get better, I always go for the hundred percent. One of my core values at the company that I represent and own is never settle. And so I'm one of now more and more health professionals out there that are constantly looking how do we improve? And so this information is how do we improve. How do we get the ratio of autism going from 1 in 20 or so babies to start going to 1 in 50 to 1 in 100? How do we flip the curve? Right? And as Courtney said, it's not one thing. It's not the shots in the arm. It's not just Tylenol, it's not just folic acid. But, but what about the trio? What if it's all three together, is a perfect storm? Or what if you eliminate just folic acid? What's going to happen? Well, you will see, if you eliminate folic acid, I will guarantee there will be a reduction. If you eliminate Tylenol, just one, there will be a reduction. If you eliminate shots in the arm in that crazy schedule, there will be a reduction. Now, if you do all three, there will be a significant rapid reduction. And the articles that I've written about Tylenol, about folic acid versus folate, about the shots in the arm, I have not done because I just can't. But read Paul's book or just be careful. But as Courtney said, Tylenol depletes glutathione. Glutathione is your body's primary antioxidant. And while you're pregnant, so there's multi. There's three different pathways that Tylenol can be broken down in your body when you're pregnant. The one of the ones that is a good pathway to break down, Tylenol, is slowed down. And so you are making more. What's called NAPQ1 and NAQ Q1, or it's NAQI. I think it might be one of those. But it's, it's the toxic part of Tylenol. Tylenol itself is not toxic. It's when it gets processed by an enzyme called Cytochrome P450 that it makes this compound called NAPQ1, I believe. And then in order to get rid of that compound, you need glutathione. Well, the problem during pregnancy is the enzymatic function, the genetic function of how your, how your genes function while you're pregnant change. They, they change. And so your ability to produce glutathione goes down while you're pregnant. Your ability to clear Tylenol while you're pregnant goes down. Your ability to clear caffeine while you're pregnant goes down. And so these are important things to consider and, and understand. So will one dose of Tylenol, you know, give your kid autism? No, it will not. Will a woman who's taking Tylenol multiple times throughout her Pregnancy increase the risk for her baby having autism? Yes, but what's the population? What is the subset of pregnant women that are most at risk? Well, the one who's, ones who already have low glutathione. And there are, there are women now and, and men who are going through in vitro fertilization programs that cannot get pregnant naturally. And if you're going through that, your glutathione levels are tanked. Research is there. They're tanked. So if you're doing IVF treatments, you better not be taking Tylenol, and you better not be taking folic acid, and you better be very careful with getting shots in the arm for your little one, because when we have our baby, we celebrate that we made it. And, and, you know, if a woman has had 10, 12 recurrent miscarriages, holding a baby in her arm is. I, I can't even believe how emotional that would be. I'm gonna get teary thinking about it.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. But I've had women come up to me with her, their babies, and say, this is a seeing health baby. So it's pretty cool.

[Courtney]

That's so cool.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. You know, because they, they've lost their babies, like, 12 times, you know, and, and now they're holding it, but you're not done. You know, that's nine months. That's, that's, that's nine months. And now you've got a very dangerous period for, like, another, I would say, nine months while that baby's out in the world. So you are not done. When that baby's delivered, you're still taking your prenatal vitamins to support healthy breast milk. Your breast milk is only as good as the nutrients that you're putting into your system. Breast milk far from perfect if your diet is not good and your nutritional intake is not good. Lily Nichols has written great books. Real Food for Pregnancy is one. Definitely read that.

[Courtney]

She's amazing.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

She's a nutritionist out there. If you want to get more training, take her courses as well. She's got great, great education that you can get CES for. So just know that once you're holding that baby, you're not done. You know, I'm a father of three boys, and, and, you know, I, I, I was pretty scared that two of my kids were, you know, I wouldn't say scared. I would say I was concerned that the neurological development was not right in two of my boys. And so I was being very, very careful and designed actually, some supplements to support them, which actually ended up being the transformative factor for them and succeeding.

[Courtney]

But what supplements were those?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

They supported acetylcholine. So the. There was. My wife didn't take folic acid during pregnancy. We lucked out there, but. And my two boys were not vaccinated at all, or one was not vaccinated at all. One had just tetanus and diphtheria. The oldest had everything because I wasn't sure. And the two were very speech delayed without the shots in the arm, which was interesting.

[Courtney]

Interesting. Yeah.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

And the, the youngest was, was very struggling with learning. And, and then I, I looked at his genes and he had a genetic issue which reduced his ability to produce acetylcholine. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. So I didn't really know much about acetylcholine, so I supported, started supporting his acetylcholine in his brain. And it took me 13 revisions for this supplement to support him. And autism is, they call it a cholinergic deficiency and a choline acetylcholine. You hear the, you hear the two? The two, yeah. And so I formulated this vitamin for him and after the 13th one, I, you know, I just kept going and I would give it to him. And he was a big storyteller and he took the vitamin. He was probably, I don't know, 10 or 11, 12. And he came back from school and said, hey, how was it? He goes, I was a genius dad in class today. I raised my hand for and answered every question. And this kid's a storyteller. I love it. Whatever. I didn't say that to his face, but I'm like, another story. But then his grades went from not good to A and good. And he's like, yeah, dad, I'm literally answering every question in class. And the teacher's like, you know, you're good, man. You can put your hand down, you're good. And the teacher put away. So acetylcholine is a natural anti inflammatory for the brain. And so if you have glutathione deficiency, you have inflammation in the brain. If you have acetylcholine deficiency, you have inflammation in the brain. We think of acetylcholine as just a neurotransmitter for learning and cognition, but it's way more than that. So that is a whole nother podcast. And actually I'm presenting at a medical conference in three weeks. I need to prepare my slides for on this exact topic.

[Courtney]

I did want to ask you quickly about morning sickness for women because this was something that I was struggling with. And this is when I reached out to you where mine was all day sickness, where I was just feeling really nauseous if I wasn't eating every two hours. And I know that there is a connection there between estrogen and histamines. Can you explain, explain that for a couple minutes for women. And there's something about the DOW enzyme. Is that what it's called? Dao?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yep, yep. Dao. Dao, yeah. So morning sickness during pregnancy is extremely common and the, the treatment of choice by the medical field is to give basically an antihistamine and I forget the name of it. It starts with a C I think.

[Courtney]

I can't remember what it's called either. And I should know this. Yeah, but I didn't take it, so I don't know.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, so, but if you think about that, it's like, okay, morning sickness is very, you know, is treated by giving an antihistamine and vitamin B6, high dose B6 and histamine and ginger is another factor. And so B6 is a cofactor, a nutrient required by the DAO enzyme. B6 deficiency reduces the function of DAO and so by taking higher amounts of B6, DAO enzyme can function. What is DAO? DAO's job is to break down histamine in the gut and, and, and outside the cell. So the placenta thankfully also makes a lot of DAO enzyme, but the placenta isn't fully developed, you know, until later.

[Courtney]

So as a baby until about 10 to 12 weeks. Right. Is that right?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

I don't know. The. Sure. I, I would, I would bet on your response more than mine at this point. So let's say it's 10 to 12 weeks. So when the, as the placenta gets bigger and bigger, it's going to produce more and more DAO enzyme, which is great. But the baby and I wrote a whole guide on morning sickness and I can give that to your team for the show notes as well because I can't remember everything that I've written and researched. It's just too much.

[Courtney]

But that guide is really helpful, by the way, for everyone listening. I've sent this to every friend of mine that has had any sort of morning sickness. It's really helpful. So we'll link it.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, yeah. So I would say in short, morning sickness is associated with histamine. And so if you support healthy histamine levels by either taking a probiotic which helps reduce histamine and avoid probiotics which increase histamine like Lactobacillus, Bulgaricus Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus helveticus. Do not take those strains. And you want to be the first

[Courtney]

trimester or period throughout your whole pregnancy.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

I would say first trimester for sure. Okay. And possibly all pregnancy because most pregnancy complications are associated with high histamine.

[Courtney]

Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Preeclampsia is another huge, huge issue. And then you can take the DAO enzyme directly to help with morning sickness, but it might not be sufficient. And then you can reduce your intake of histamine containing foods and drinks. So stay away from citrus, stay away from fermented foods, the kombuchas, the, the bone broths, the leftovers, fish, you know, so avoid those types of foods. You know, aged meats, aged cheeses. You know, it's, it sucks. But I would say avoiding those foods is going to be easier than dealing with the morning sickness. Even though I've never had it, I've observed it plenty of times with three boys. And then being around a lot of women with it, it's, it does not look fun.

[Courtney]

So I just saw a video of yours where you were posting about green tea. Why would a woman not want to drink her matcha latte while pregnant?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So there's a few reasons why green tea or matcha. And matcha is worse than green tea, by the way, because there's in green tea and in matcha there's a compound called EGCG and it's an anti folate. So it literally destroys folate. And so that's why they're so promoted during cancer treatments, because they're, they're actually nature's anti folate. Well, during pregnancy, not a good time to be taking something that's anti folate. And it's anti folate for a few reasons. One, it destroys folate actively. It literally destroys it. And you'll say, okay, well I'll just have my matcha in the morning and then I will be fine. Well, the research shows that 30 minutes to an hour, that compound is still circulating in your blood and it's still destroying the folate. And folate is also stored in your liver. So the matcha will go through your liver and destroy the storage stored folates in your liver as well. So then you'll say, oh, I'll just take my prenatal, I'll be fine. Well, you're helping mitigate a little bit, but you know, you're still destroying folate, so. And you're taking folate every day in your prenatal. And also, if you're taking folic acid instead of real folates like methylfolate or folinic acid, the EGCG component of matcha or green tea. It inhibits the conversion of folic acid into a more natural, bioavailable form of folate. And so what do you mean by that? Folic acid is completely not biologically active at all. In order for your body to make folic acid into something it can use, it has to go through an enzyme called dhfr. And DHFR is never talked about. MGFR is talked about, but DHFR is never talked about. DHFR is the enzyme needed to convert folic acid into another type of folate that your body can actually start using. Still not good. But it's still can. Your body can start using it. And so green tea, matcha inhibit that conversion. So folic acid stays in your system and it blocks receptors and does not do what it needs to do.

[Courtney]

That is fascinating. I have never heard this before until you started talking about it.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Wow. Yep.

[Courtney]

Why would methylated vitamins make some people feel anxious?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Methylated vitamins can make some people anxious because you're getting more of something that you already have enough of. Folates are stored in your liver for a long period of time. In the beginning, there's typically honeymoon period where you take methylfolate and you feel the best you've ever had. Maybe the next week you start feeling a little bit anxious, and then the following week you start getting headaches and actually quite anxious. But you cannot relate it to the methylfolate because it's made you feel so good. But it is the methylfolate, so stop. And why is it doing that? Because you're getting a plethora of neurotransmitters in your brain, more than your brain can handle. You're also increasing a significant amount of oxidative stress through compounds called hydrogen sulfide and peroxy nitrate, which are caused by higher levels of methylfolate. In addition, you are inhibiting an enzyme that controls the elimination of methyl groups called gnmt. And GNMT controls how much methyl donors are in the body and methylfolate actively blocks it. So you are now having a huge amount of methylation groups in your body.

[Courtney]

Too much, I will say when I switched from taking methylfolate to folinic acid, the reduction of anxiety in my body was profound. It really changed my life.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

It's massive. And if you are still struggling because it takes a while for methylfolate side effects to go away. And so niacin as nicotinic acid is actually a methyl sponge. So in order to process nicotinic acid into another form of niacin requires Sami. So people who are taking high dose nicotinic acid to reduce their cholesterol are actually methylation deficient and hurting their livers and going to cause serious problems if they're not supporting methylation. But the answer to over methylation, if you've taken methylflate and you're anxious or had have headaches or joint pain or what have you, is one, stop taking methylfolate and two, take nicotinic acid, 50 milligrams, probably every 20 to 30 minutes until you feel literally normal. It works that fast.

[Courtney]

Is there legitimate science connecting Tylenol with autism?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

I would say the short answer is yes. And it's not causal. So we, we tend to think that when we hear that Tylenol causes autism, that it's the only variable in the causation of autism. It is not. It's a factor. There's. Autism is a multifaceted condition that is on a spectrum. And so Tylenol is a risk factor. Yes. Is it a risk factor for all women? No. Is it a risk factor in a subset of women while they're pregnant? Absolutely. Why? There are a subset of pregnant women that have lower glutathione levels to start. And Tylenol by very nature reduces glutathione levels. And glutathione is your body's primary antioxidant. And so by taking Tylenol you are reducing glutathione, which is then your missing from supporting your baby's brain and development. Because glutathione is an antioxidant. And so if you increase oxidation, you are just, you are literally destroying cells and harming the formation of new cells and development of your baby. And so if you have low glutathione levels, you are making them even lower by taking Tylenol. Now, if a woman has healthy glutathione levels and takes Tylenol, she has no problems.

[Courtney]

That's really great to know. I think there was a lot of anxiety and fear circulating the Internet about Tylenol when this all came out. And just to your point, I think it's multifaceted and I know you believe this too, but there are certain things that seem to be.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

That seem to be linked to autism.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. And we have full videos on my YouTube channel that talk about methylfolate and fluoric acid, that we talk about green tea in pregnancy, we talk about caffeine and pregnancy, we talk about Tylenol in pregnancy, and we talk about MTHFR and a bunch of other things. So my YouTube channel will share a lot of that in detail. And then we, in the YouTube channel as well, we link to articles which cite the research and the evidence, and it's all written out. Some people are readers. They're not listeners or viewers, and they also want to see the studies themselves. And the studies are there for you.

[Courtney]

Yeah. I have a personal question for you. Do you think it's really bad if I take. If I have about 20 to maybe 50 milligrams. Is it milligrams of coffee a day? I do very low. Like, I. I do like half a cup of coffee.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Caffeine. No, I. I do not. So the. The typical recommendation for pregnancy is 200 milligrams of caffeine.

[Courtney]

Okay.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

But the studies in the. In my video say that that's too much. No, non. Caffeine is ideal. I would say 25-50mg is still falling in that frame of where it's okay. And the video that you can watch, the evidence is there and the articles and you can read, and then you can see how to support it as well. So. Because some women, you know, do need some additional caffeine, especially if they have another kid. So there are ways that you can support the.

[Courtney]

The.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

The potential effects of the caffeine.

[Courtney]

Okay. That makes me feel better because I did see that you were talking about caffeine, and I was like, oh, no, I'm not a big coffee drinker. Like I said, I'll do, like, I'll order a latte and I'll drink, like half of it. I just don't even drink the whole thing. Or I'll do king coffee, which I know is really low.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. My whole point is, you know, there's. There's women out there who are struggling to have a baby to full term or they're struggling to have, you know, what is labeled as a. As a healthy baby. And then I've a lot of comments on my. My caffeine and pregnancy video. Or it's like, oh, I had caffeine all throughout my pregnancy. My baby's healthy. I was like, okay, I get that. But, you know, not to be a jerk. Baby could have been healthier. Yeah. So that's true. Is 25 to 50 milligrams a problem? I don't think so. Especially with the rest of your lifestyle going on, you know? Yeah, you know, it's. It's typically multifaceted. Is is my big thing. So just another variable.

[Courtney]

Well, Dr. Ben lynch, thank you so much for your time and coming on today. This was absolutely fascinating, and I know it's going to be really helpful for a lot of women, a lot of people in general, but especially women. If you could just let everybody know where to find you and where they can find your supplements as well and anything else you want to plug in.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, sounds good. So wrote a book called Dirty Jeans. That's a good way to get started, because a lot of this can be overwhelming, and you're like, where do I start? Read the book. It's. It's very empowering. So start there. And then supplement company called Seeking Health and where I design and formulate our own supplements based upon my research findings. And I test a lot of things on my. My own family before we go to market. And a lot of things were actually designed for my family members, including myself, and they. They work. So we said, why not helping everybody? Then you can find me on Instagram Dr. Ben lynch and YouTube. Dr. Ben Lynch.

[Courtney]

Amazing. Thank you so much. And I'm taking his prenatal right now. I think I said that in the beginning. And I'm also taking the glutathione and the histamine probiotic, because everybody always asks, and I'm a huge fan of Seeking Health.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. You're doing the lozenge of glutathione. Yeah. Half or full?

[Courtney]

I do a full one because of the mold exposure.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Oh, right.

[Courtney]

Is that okay?

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Absolutely. 100%. Yeah. Because mold actually reduces your body's ability to produce glutathione. Everybody says you can take nac, but you can't just take NAC because NAC has to be converted into glutathione, and mycotoxins prevent that conversion. So you need direct glutathione.

[Courtney]

Okay, good. Well, I'm glad I'm taking that one from Seeking Health.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

So perfect.

[Courtney]

Well, thank you so much for everything you're doing, and thank you so much for coming on.

[Dr. Ben Lynch]

Yeah. Appreciate you getting the word out. Thank you.

[Courtney]

Thank you so much for listening to the Real Foodology podcast. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson and mixed by Mike Fry. Theme song is by Georgie. You can watch the full video version of this podcast inside the Spotify app or on YouTube. As always, you can leave us a voicemail by clicking the link in our bio. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on your podcast app. For more shows by my team, go to wellnessloud.com see you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.

[Joanne or Bri]

Are you the one keeping everything together in your family? But maybe you're secretly, or not so secretly falling apart. Dude, you are not alone. We have been there too. I'm Joanne. And I'm Bri and we're the hosts of the no Guilt mom podcast. If your to do list never ends, your kids depend on you for everything and you're constantly putting your own needs last. Or if you're the go to parent but you're starting to feel burnt out and resentful, we're here to help. Each week we give you practical strategies from parenting and psychology experts and from our own real mom experience to help you take back time, energy and joy so you can stop feeling like you're the family martyr and start leading as a confident, guilt free role model. Subscribe to the no Guilt Mom Podcast and let's help you ditch the overwhelm and actually enjoy your family again. Listen now, wherever you get your favorite podcasts.