How to cut high homocysteine before it kills you….

Today's post: Friday, 9-14-2007

Dr Al Sears, in one of his health information emails, said that high homocysteine blood levels are more predictive of a greater chance of dying than the other blood tests doctors now tend to rely on such as total cholesterol. In fact, he says it’s the most accurate predictor.

Why is a too high blood level of homocysteine so deadly?

If it’s 9.0 or over it causes or helps cause all cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, peripheral artery disease, erectile dysfunction, & kidney failure; makes it more likely you’ll get age related mental decline, apparently including Alzheimers; & INCREASES your rate of aging.

The bad news is that many doctors do not yet know to test for it every time or at all in some cases. They don’t know that 9.0 to 12.0 readings are dangerous because they have been typical of people in seeming good health. And, very few know how to lower the levels of homocysteine since the agents involved are vitamins & supplements & health enhancing lifestyle changes – NOT drugs. And, some of the research some of them have seen did NOT measure effective methods; started with people too sick to help; & did not continue until the homocysteine was low enough to be protective & were low long enough to show an effect. NOT good science.

15 on Homocysteine is like over 400 cholesterol or blood pressure high enough to send you to the ER. Double Ouch !! And, even readings of 9.0 to 12.0 that have been typical & which you may well have now yourself are NOT safe.The good news is that there are effective ways to lower homocysteine levels that may well put you into the safe zone of 8.9 or less even if you start a good bit higher than that.

And, each of the methods have separate & worthwhile health benefits.

1. Take the right B vitamins; eat foods that contain folate; & discontinue excess meat consumption by eating less overall & substituting plant proteins like beans & nuts for part of your protein intake.

There are 3 of the B vitamins that lower homocysteine; but you will get more of them; get added health benefits; & give your body a more balanced supply of B & other vitamins your body needs to make the most effective use of the 3 that do the job, if you ALSO take a good multivitamin & mineral supplement AND a good B balanced Complex like Solgar’s B Complex with C Stress formula.

One supplement knowledgeable doctor I know said, if you wish to lower your homocysteine levels that it's really important to get 1,000 units of B12 & 2,000 or more each day of folic acid.

B6 is also very important; but 100 mg or more can cause problems so a total of 50 to 90 mg a day is best. I take 70 mg a day. I get 10 each from my multi & my B complex & then add 50 mg.

The wonderful news is that folic acid & B6 are really cheap.

If your reading is above 12 consider taking 3,000 or more of the folic acid. It seems to lower homocysteine best & is also the cheapest one.

(These vitamins in the multi & the B complex vitamins also have a LONG list of other health benefits.)

Also, organic salad greens like romaine lettuce, spinach, & kale are high in folic acid AND also have the more natural & potentially effective version, folate. Orange juice & beans are also high in folate. (So are most fruits at vegetables at least to some degree.) Be sure to eat two or three or more of these foods every day. And, larger servings are a good idea.

I realize you may need or want to not overdo beans. And, too much OJ has too much sugar. But the greens are all OK. In fact, any green & nonstarchy vegetable tends to be high in folate. And, organic produce has more folate than pesticide raised produce.

Eating beans in salads or bean only chili with extra virgin olive oil instead of meat dishes for part of your protein will help.

Beans don't have the amino acid methionine that turns into homocysteine that meat does. So eating beans instead of meat works two ways, you generate less homocysteine & the folate in the beans helps process the homocysteine you do have. Similarly, cutting back on meat intake overall is a good idea.

For example, get organic beef fed only grass once a week instead of grain fed hamburger with pesticide residues in its fat five or more times a week. Then eat all bean chili or hummus or refried beans with guacamole three times a week; & wild caught salmon once for the other four days. The cost is close the same. The health effects are NOT.

2. For homocysteine levels of 12.0 or higher or if the B vitamins alone don’t lower you into the safe zone, I think it's also very important to take one or two 500 mg capsules of NAC, n-aceytl Cysteine, daily. (One a day helped me lower my homocysteine; but mine started out much lower than 12.)

Two of the best & most supplement knowledgeable doctors I read suggest that much NAC for homocysteine levels of 12.0 or high or if the B vitamins don’t quite get you to safe level. If you do take two a day, I think it's likely best to take one in the am & one about lunch time.

NAC also sharply increases your body’s supply of the powerful antioxidant glutathione. And, that antioxidant not only protects you from harm, one doctor reports effectively reversing harm by using large amounts of glutathione.

3. Do NOT smoke. Ever. And, if you do smoke quit ASAP. (Doctors now have a new drug, Varenicline, that makes it dramatically easier to do. So much so, it something like triples the percentage of people who quit & stay off cigarettes.)

And, be sure to be very consistent in staying away from second hand smoke !! THE most powerful way smoking kills smokers is by raising their homocysteine enough to reliably produce heart disease. (And very few of the poor bastards know it.)

And, second hand smoke has exactly the same effect.

4. And, you can do more !! These first few steps are not all you can do.

TMG also works. And, it breaks down into DMG which has a body building & strengthening effect.

Wikipedia says this: "Trimethylglycine...(TMG)... donates a methyl group to convert homocysteine to methionine in a reaction catalysed by BHMT (Betaine Homocysteine Methyltransferase, E.C. 2.1.1.5, a zinc metalloenzyme). Methionine is then converted to SAMe by Methionine Adenosyl Transferase (MAT) using magnesium and adenosine triphosphate as co-factors."

So, TMG directly changes homocysteine back into the amino acid methionine that your body uses. And, SAMe has an antidepressant effect.

& I found this online:

"Dosage and Use: (for TMG)Take two tablets (500 mg) in the morning with or without food, or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner.

TMG should be taken with co-factors vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid."

That source also said TMG gives some people headaches; but I've not heard that before elsewhere.I have also read that TMG works better than Betaine HCL & for sure the Hydrochloric acid, HCL, part makes that version of TMG harder on your digestive tract.Jarrow makes a reasonably priced TMG available in health food stores.

If you take all these steps, your homocysteine WILL be lower. My hope is that it is closer to the 8.6 my supplements got me to – or even less, 7.0 is ideal -- instead of the well over 9.0 reading it likely is now.

At the very least, get tested soon so you know what your current reading is.