Homocysteine and Your Health
Homocysteine is an amino acid and is a normal by-product of protein breakdown in the human body. Homocysteine is mainly a result of protein breakdown from red meat, milk and milk products, and doesn’t create a problem when in small quantities. Normally, homocysteine is further broken down into other harmless by-products, but if the enzyme that breaks homocysteine down isn’t working properly, homocysteine will be abnormally high and this causes problems.
Dr. Kilmer S. McCully MD, believes that homocysteine could, when allowed to reach toxic levels, damage arteries and produce heart disease. It has been found that men with high homocysteine levels have three times more heart attacks than men with low levels. In 1992 researchers at Harvard University School of Public Health showed that men with homeocysteine levels only 12% higher than average had 3.4 times greater risk of a heart attack than those with normal levels. In 1995 the Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed 209 studies linking homocysteine with heart disease and concluded that the evidence demonstrates that homocysteine represents a strong independent risk factor for heart disease.
At the present time, there is no medication that is able to lower homocysteine levels. Fortunately, there are natural methods that have been shown to effectively lower homocysteine levels. According to Dr. McCully, increased homocysteine levels are due to poor protein breakdown due to B vitamin deficiencies, especially vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid. An effective way to lower homocysteine levels is through supplementation with vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid.
