Methylation does have something to do with cancer, but taking methylation-enhancing supplements does not cause cancer. Just the opposite. Methylation plays a role in cancer in a very specific way. DNA contains areas that are supposed to be methylated, and areas that are not. In these areas, methylation acts as a switch, turning genes off or turning them on.
Tumor suppressor genes and cancer genes are two areas that depend on the methylation switch.
Should the methylation patterns in these areas become disrupted because of a methylation-deficient diet, the switch can be thrown. Researchers have repeatedly shown that if rats are deprived of methylation in their diet, the switches to cancer genes will be thrown. The good news is that even in precancerous conditions, methylation supplementation will protect the methylation patterns and reverse the trend towards throwing the switch. Once the switch is thrown, however, supplemental methylation cannot restore the switch. We will be exploring this complicated issue in a future issue of Life Extension magazine.