Very interesting. My parents are from southern europe, and I've noticed a lot of second generation migrants to other countries have very different bodies to their parents who were raised on more traditional foods. I also grew up on a farm and my father loved using round up. My autistic teen has the dietary preferences you describe, mental health issues, as well as gender dysphoria, all of a sudden out of the blue during the first covid lockdowns in 2020. She wasn't diagnosed with tongue tie but she did have lots of problems breastfeeding. She also has a mthr variation, high pyrolles, so many other linked factors that seem to all be interrelated. Thanks for looking into this deeply.
Wow, fascinating piece! I also didn’t take a regular prenatal during my second pregnancy - I took one that had food sourced folate not folic acid for about the first 3 months and then focused on diet instead, I added liver to my mince and ate a tonne of chicken liver pate. With my first I took the regular cheap folic acid prenatal. I had awful nausea and craved carbs endlessly, especially fatty carbs like French fries and crisps, so consequently my diet during the first trimester of that pregnancy was absolutely awful. With my second I did crave carbs a little more than usual but so much less than with my first! Both my daughters are healthy thankfully, but interestingly my first born was a VERY picky eater and we have only recently (shes now 2 and a half) got her eating a good range of foods. Our second is 6 months and has just started weaning and already will just eat anything, so different from our first who refused most solids for a really long time.
The link between b vitamin depletion and same sec attraction is so fascinating. I’ve always been heterosexual apart from a brief period in my late 20s when I was living in Australia when started experiencing attraction to women as well. At the time I was working a highly stressful job, had been drinking excessively for a couple of years, and was eating a crap diet full of plain carbs and processed foods.
Once I quit that job and got my drinking under control and started eating a bit better I went back to being exclusively attracted to men. Makes me wonder!
Anyway, thanks for sharing this piece, really interesting. I try and avoid fortified foods as much as possible, it’s a little tricky as they add folic acid to all white bread flour and related products in the UK, but we try and keep it to a minimum!
I appreciate the significant time and effort that goes into these "deeper dive" pieces. Chris Masterjohn, Ph.D. has new post touching on MTHFR mutations. And before that, one in which he discusses the importance of creatine.
Super interesting! I’ve tried to kick all the processed food out of my house, but I never gave a second thought to the fortified grains and folic acid mix. I wish our government would do some studies. You’ve put together a compelling case. Complicated! But really interesting possibility here. I’ll be going back to making my own bread now.
An incredibly thorough and well-researched piece. I have noticed the overlap in population of those with minority sexuality and gender, other mental health issues, and food difficulties. This was super gripping and informative! I’ll save this for when I start trying to get pregnant.
Ugh, yes, the first part of the sentence and first hyperlink refers to animal studies, but the second part and second two links (asthma and tongue ties) were different studies and not on animals. Just a messy sentence -- I don't remember what I was thinking when I wrote that part but I probably was just trying to be succinct and screwed up. I'll fix it later today.
This is pseudo scientific bullshit. I don’t know how you can read so much research and still write such utter tripe. Do you actually understand evidence or, actually, are you just a fucking grifting shitbag talking shit to morons to make a little cash?
(1) How exactly do you think I misinterpreted evidence? Be specific. Do you have a counter-argument and counter-evidence, or are you just a troll spewing hate at me because you're an antisemite and I'm married to a Jewish man?
(2) How exactly am I making cash from this post? It's free for all to read, and I'm not selling anything.
If the gender dysphoria begins in adulthood, diet can affect that. Many transgender women are autogynephilic men or heavy porn users. Dr. Powers says that autogynephilic transgenders are a small minority, but other authors (Michael Bailey) say that they are a good portion of MTF Autogynephilia is a paraphilia, an addictive, compulsive sexual response. As such, it can be treated with the same dietary and lifestyle interventions that are used for other addictions.
I don't know what the ratio is of autogynephilic versus feminine / homosexual MTFs. I've seen conflicting evidence. I know there is some research suggesting that AGP is more common in European MTFs and homosexual transgenderism is more common in other populations (I'd have to dig it up again, I don't have the source on hand).
So far my research and anecdotal experiences points to diet being a larger factor in females versus males (I think we might be more malleable like that) but I admittedly know less about and know fewer males with gender dysphoria. I'm not sure. Maybe gender dysphoria can be treated with diet in at least some cases, at least in younger people, with later-onset GD. I think there's a cohort of born-that-ways and a cohort of developed-that-ways (loosely, early versus late-onset). I do not think dietary interventions will make a difference in the born-that-ways.
Very interesting. My parents are from southern europe, and I've noticed a lot of second generation migrants to other countries have very different bodies to their parents who were raised on more traditional foods. I also grew up on a farm and my father loved using round up. My autistic teen has the dietary preferences you describe, mental health issues, as well as gender dysphoria, all of a sudden out of the blue during the first covid lockdowns in 2020. She wasn't diagnosed with tongue tie but she did have lots of problems breastfeeding. She also has a mthr variation, high pyrolles, so many other linked factors that seem to all be interrelated. Thanks for looking into this deeply.
I hope this helps your daughter <3
Wow, fascinating piece! I also didn’t take a regular prenatal during my second pregnancy - I took one that had food sourced folate not folic acid for about the first 3 months and then focused on diet instead, I added liver to my mince and ate a tonne of chicken liver pate. With my first I took the regular cheap folic acid prenatal. I had awful nausea and craved carbs endlessly, especially fatty carbs like French fries and crisps, so consequently my diet during the first trimester of that pregnancy was absolutely awful. With my second I did crave carbs a little more than usual but so much less than with my first! Both my daughters are healthy thankfully, but interestingly my first born was a VERY picky eater and we have only recently (shes now 2 and a half) got her eating a good range of foods. Our second is 6 months and has just started weaning and already will just eat anything, so different from our first who refused most solids for a really long time.
The link between b vitamin depletion and same sec attraction is so fascinating. I’ve always been heterosexual apart from a brief period in my late 20s when I was living in Australia when started experiencing attraction to women as well. At the time I was working a highly stressful job, had been drinking excessively for a couple of years, and was eating a crap diet full of plain carbs and processed foods.
Once I quit that job and got my drinking under control and started eating a bit better I went back to being exclusively attracted to men. Makes me wonder!
Anyway, thanks for sharing this piece, really interesting. I try and avoid fortified foods as much as possible, it’s a little tricky as they add folic acid to all white bread flour and related products in the UK, but we try and keep it to a minimum!
Wow, incredibly well-researched article! Thank you.
Nuts. Can anything "they" say be trusted anymore? Seems like our society is one giant bullshit mill.
Ugh, YUP.
I appreciate the significant time and effort that goes into these "deeper dive" pieces. Chris Masterjohn, Ph.D. has new post touching on MTHFR mutations. And before that, one in which he discusses the importance of creatine.
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/how-low-methylation-destroys-your
Thank you for sharing!
Super interesting! I’ve tried to kick all the processed food out of my house, but I never gave a second thought to the fortified grains and folic acid mix. I wish our government would do some studies. You’ve put together a compelling case. Complicated! But really interesting possibility here. I’ll be going back to making my own bread now.
LOL! I need to learn how to make bread. I think it's possible to buy organic flour without folic acid added in the United States, but I'm not sure.
Yes it is! The ingredients just say “wheat”!
An incredibly thorough and well-researched piece. I have noticed the overlap in population of those with minority sexuality and gender, other mental health issues, and food difficulties. This was super gripping and informative! I’ll save this for when I start trying to get pregnant.
What does this part mean? “Animal students have found that excess folic acid in the prenatal period is associated with…”
Animal STUDIES! That's a typo. Research on animals. One-woman operation over here, no proofreaders!
Fair enough, but that animal studies sentence ends up mentioning childhood problems & tongue ties—surely those symptoms weren’t found in the animals!
Ugh, yes, the first part of the sentence and first hyperlink refers to animal studies, but the second part and second two links (asthma and tongue ties) were different studies and not on animals. Just a messy sentence -- I don't remember what I was thinking when I wrote that part but I probably was just trying to be succinct and screwed up. I'll fix it later today.
This is pseudo scientific bullshit. I don’t know how you can read so much research and still write such utter tripe. Do you actually understand evidence or, actually, are you just a fucking grifting shitbag talking shit to morons to make a little cash?
(1) How exactly do you think I misinterpreted evidence? Be specific. Do you have a counter-argument and counter-evidence, or are you just a troll spewing hate at me because you're an antisemite and I'm married to a Jewish man?
(2) How exactly am I making cash from this post? It's free for all to read, and I'm not selling anything.
If the gender dysphoria begins in adulthood, diet can affect that. Many transgender women are autogynephilic men or heavy porn users. Dr. Powers says that autogynephilic transgenders are a small minority, but other authors (Michael Bailey) say that they are a good portion of MTF Autogynephilia is a paraphilia, an addictive, compulsive sexual response. As such, it can be treated with the same dietary and lifestyle interventions that are used for other addictions.
I don't know what the ratio is of autogynephilic versus feminine / homosexual MTFs. I've seen conflicting evidence. I know there is some research suggesting that AGP is more common in European MTFs and homosexual transgenderism is more common in other populations (I'd have to dig it up again, I don't have the source on hand).
So far my research and anecdotal experiences points to diet being a larger factor in females versus males (I think we might be more malleable like that) but I admittedly know less about and know fewer males with gender dysphoria. I'm not sure. Maybe gender dysphoria can be treated with diet in at least some cases, at least in younger people, with later-onset GD. I think there's a cohort of born-that-ways and a cohort of developed-that-ways (loosely, early versus late-onset). I do not think dietary interventions will make a difference in the born-that-ways.