High Homocysteine, What To Do?

Homocysteine is an amino acid that the body uses to make proteins. The process is as follows: vitamins B12, B6 and folic acid break down homocysteine, transforming it into the substances the body needs. Therefore, after this process the amount of homocysteine in the blood is very low but normal. A high level of homocysteine in the blood could indicate a vitamin deficiency or heart disease. It may also indicate a rare inherited disorder known as homocystinuria, an inherited disease of methionine amino acid metabolism that prevents the body from breaking down certain proteins.

Health Sleuths Assess Homocysteine as Culprit

What's ''normal''? That's the question dozens of researchers and some physicians are now asking themselves about homocysteine, a substance in blood that may rival cholesterol as a major actor in the nation's leading killer, heart disease, and play an important role in other common health problems as well. Recent evidence has implicated elevated blood levels of homocysteine, an unhappy byproduct of normal metabolism,

Homocysteine- The Hidden Factor and Cardiovascular Disease: Cause or Effect?

Markedly or mildly elevated circulating homocysteine concentrations are associated with increased risk of vascular occlusion. Here we review possible mechanisms that mediate these effects. Inborn errors of homocysteine metabolism result in markedly elevated plasma homocysteine (200-300 μmol/L) and thromboembolic (mainly venous) disease which is easily normalized with oral folate and ongoing trials are assessing the effect of folate treatment on outcomes. S

How vitamin B could save your life

Evidence is mounting that high levels of a substance called homocysteine increase the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's and cancer. Fortunately, says Jerome Byrne, a powerful natural weapon can help us defend against it.

Hyperhomocysteinemia Predicts the Severity of Coronary Artery Disease as Determined by the SYNTAX Score in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Homocysteine is an amino acid compriseds of sulfide. It plays a major role in folate metabolism and is produced by the demethylation of methionine.1 Hyperhomocysteinemia can be caused by vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency and by genetic defects in enzymes. Hyperhomocysteinemia can affect many atherogenic mechanisms.

Lowering blood homocysteine with folic acid based supplements: meta-analysis of randomised trials

Epidemiological studies have consistently reported that patients with occlusive vascular disease have higher blood homocysteine concentrations than control subjects, and that these differences precede the onset of disease and are independent of other risk factors.

Regimens: Lower Homocysteine and Heart Risk

People with high blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine are at increased risk for heart disease and strokes. But it has never been clear whether reducing homocysteine will cut the risk, and whether the substance actually causes vascular disease.

Role of homocysteine in the development of cardiovascular disease

Homocysteine is also known to mediate cardiovascular problems by its adverse effects on cardiovascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells with resultant alterations in subclinical arterial structure and function.

Teaching Old Drugs New Tricks

For example, promising findings that the amino acid homocysteine might be as good as, or possibly better than, cholesterol at predicting heart disease languished for more than a decade because of lack of funding.

The missing link in heart disease

When a young scientist came up with the revolutionary theory that our hearts could be damaged by the protein in our diet, he was ridiculed. It is only now, 30 years later, that he is being taken seriously.