Recent Study: Impact of the common MTHFR 677C→T polymorphism on blood pressure in adulthood and role of riboflavin in modifying the genetic risk of hypertension: evidence from the JINGO project BMC Medicine Sept 2020
Overview:
The MTHFR C677T variant has links in numerous studies to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This new study shows that people who carry the MTHFR 677 A/A genotype (check your MTHFR genotype here) are at a 42% increased relative risk of high blood pressure throughout adulthood. (Note that in the study they refer to MTHFR 677 TT, which corresponds to the A/A genotype on 23andMe or AncestryDNA data).
Interestingly, the researchers also looked at how vitamin B2 (riboflavin) interacted with the MTHFR 677 TT genotype… The results showed that people with two copies of the variant who also had low or deficient riboflavin were at a 3-fold increased risk of high blood pressure.
The conclusion reached by researchers is that the MTHFR 677 A/A genotype increases the risk of high blood pressure independent of homocysteine – and that it is exacerbated by low riboflavin status. (Read more about riboflavin and your genes)