Homocysteine: One of the Best Objective Markers of How Healthy You Are

Dear friend,

It is obvious that you have lost trust in GP's. The current approach taken by many practitioners who tend to write scripts for every minor niggle and pain we get (I agree, this is not correct), which is mostly a direct result from imbalances in our environment, or diet and lifestyle.

Additionally, many natural therapists take a drug approach with nutrition, that is, mega dosing isolated nutrients to fill a gape caused by poor dietary habits.

This type of intervention may over tax the liver, over stimulate an organ and increase 'total' stress to an already sick body, as it takes allot of energy to metabolize large amounts of supplements. These practitioners are known as 'holistic pharmacists'.

However, understanding your concerns in your last post regarding improper practice(s), the fact is that there are bogus professionals along with much misinformation circulating on diet and health everywhere.

The confusion and contradicting advice steams from industry and the fact that there is loads of money involved in keeping our society dysfunctional, relying on drugs, medication etc

Does this mean that all doctors, natural therapists and scientific papers are bogus? Absolutely not!

We just need to become good consumers of information and discern between marketing, advertising, junk science and make sensible conclusions regarding your own health using sound science and information.

The fact is that, homocysteine is toxic and you should be concerned with your levels that are extremely high at 20.1. Apart from being toxic, homocysteine generates large amounts of free radicals which are highly reactive oxygen particles.

Free radicals are like red hot ball bearings that will burn and damage anything they come in contact with, your cells, tissues and cholesterol (causing premature aging).

When your cholesterol is damaged (oxidized) your immune system doesn't recognize it as normal and will smear it (the damaged cholesterol) into the arterial wall, this is the beginning of heart disease...

Free radicals are how and why we age, depending on how many you produce is how fast you age. plants, fruits and vegetables hold the key to not only neutralizing your free radicals, but also lowering your homocysteine to healthy levels.

Homocysteine and diet

Again, as Dr. Kim suggested homocysteine is a byproduct of protein metabolism, mainly animal protein.

In addition to dietary change, Whole food supplements are the only are the only intervention that I have researched to effectively reduce your homocysteine levels. However, this does not address the greater issue here, and that is, why are your homocysteine levels so high?

Wouldn't it make sense if homocysteine is a byproduct of excess protein metabolism, to reduce your consumption of animal protein. The good news is that you don't need drug or supplementation to reduce this toxic amino acid, you just may have move towards ideal dietary habits.

It is really important to be clear on what constitutes a good diet, one that promotes healthy weight, body composition, blood health and health longevity.

Human beings are designed to thrive on complex carbohydrates, fiber rich foods, with animal foods playing a more minor role.

Scientists have been able to conclusively determine the best diet for human beings by evaluating the diet and lifestyle habits and the disease rates for various populations around the world. The healthiest people live in parts of Africa and in Asian countries.

These people eat diets that consists of primarily fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains.

They eat very minimal amounts of animal foods, if any!

The World Health Organisation determined protein needs to be 2.5% of total calories several years ago and established a recommendation of 5% which is more than enough for health and tissue repair.

However, in spite of these optimal standards which is parallel with protein consumption in the healthier populations around the world, people in more developed countries eat far to much protein and its adverse effects on health are many. In short, one of those effects are increased levels of homocysteine and free radicals.

By simply moving towards a whole food plant based diet that provides balanced nutrition from all macronutrients (fats, carbohydrates, proteins and fiber) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants), not only will you reduce your homocysteine levels, but you will also neutralise excess free radicals that are sure to be causing damage on healthy cells 'Oxidative Stress'.

You will not need to completely eliminate animal foods from your diet, although you should significantly
reduce them to about 10% of total weekly calories. A point a reference would be 2-3 meals per week or a little more if you are using them as condiment in a salad for example.

The rest of the diet should consist of good whole plant foods, in best case raw and organic.... Fuel your body with proper food to build healthy cells, tissue and organs. Eliminate any negative ingredients mostly found in refined foods and animal products.

Additionally, stress management, filtered water and exercise will complete a blue print of health to follow.... Not only will you reduce your homocysteine, but, you will look better, feel better and live longer!

First and foremost, improving 'total' diet and lifestyle is recommended. However, there is a time and place for everything and there maybe times when the use of medication or supplements are and can be very beneficial.

Time and place for intervention:

Drugs, herbs and supplements should only be used while the total diet and lifestyle are being improved....

Whole food concentrates are a great way to include more nutrient dense foods into the daily diet that you simply wouldn't eat on a regular basis.

In addition to eating good whole foods, this is a great way to maximize nutrient density and achieve dietary excellence (complement, not replacement).

Some of the best foods for us we simply don't eat on regular basis 'EVERY DAY', yet we thrive on these foods. Foods such as red cabbage, kale, beats, broccoli, acerola cherries and many many more.

You need to ask yourself the question. Would it be good to include more of these foods into your daily diet, in addition to your regular diet?

Whole food concentrates contain thousands of little synergistic nutrients that promote optimal blood health and maintain cellular balance.

If you choose to use something, only use evidenced based products that have independent peer reviewed published studies conducted on the brand name. This will ensure the integrity of the product and its effect on human health. More studies the better.

With so much on the market today with so many claims, this is how you divide the junk from quality and hollow promises. It maybe a good concept, but goods concepts should be supported by good research!

Summing up:

You should be concerned about homocysteine, to not be, would be like saying to a smoker not to be concerned about cancer, the research is conclusive....

The answer, is to keep learning, asking questions until you receive answers that not only make sense, but also make healthy change achievable without intervention.

Recommended reading:

Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn
The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
Courses Wellness 101 - 501 Dr. Pam Popper The Wellness Forum

These doctors are leaders in the field of nutrition and nutrition research. In addition to Dr. Ben's website these are others websites and books that may help you continue your journey of health discovery.

These courses are very comprehensive and help you ask the right questions regarding diet and health longevity.

Kind regards

BK

I am a physician with an interest in nutrition. I practice in anesthesiology which focuses on physiology but does not specifically focus on nutrition. Remarkably, nutrition is a grossly underemphasized body of knowledge in medicine. Nonetheless there is a growing population of physicians who understand and who are trying to promulgate the idea of healthy, eating healthy life. This is so important in a day and age where nutrition has been hijacked by a for profit food product industry which has lead to epidemic levels of illness in the form of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, to name the big ones. There is plenty of good data out there to support a diet low in animal products which contribute to your ill health as identified by higher homocysteine levels. Unfortunately, sifting through the data does require a certain sophistication, or education and understanding. Statistics are easily manipulated and the "food" industry has a lot to lose if you understand what healthy eating boils down to. You may be healthy now with high homocysteine levels and you may be one of those few lucky genetically endowed persons that escapes the usual consequences. But that does not negate all of the data, information, that currently exists pointing to homocysteine as a marker of poor health. An example, a diet high in animal products leads to a chronic low grade acedemia which is buffered by leaching calcium phosphate from your bones. In plain English this means that eating animal products, including the milk many physicians recommend, leads to osteopenia and osteoporosis, weak bones, and fractures. While this isn't specifically related to homocysteine levels it is an example of eating habits leading to illness with an easy to understand physiologic explanation. Unfortunately, the majority of physicians practicing today unwittingly support the food and pharmaceutical industries. There is little profit in prescribing a healthy diet ("Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Michael Pollan). No wonder people are confused. Dr Kim knows what he is talking about. What you need is a physician you trust to interpret for you. Good luck.

Don,
Just like any other "medicine" vitamins/supplements must be titrated to the correct dose. Yes; there is a "right" amount of all micro and macro nutrients to take. (Although you probably can't go too far wrong taking a really "good" multi to accompany a very "good" diet.) One doesn't just willy nilly take this or that at any but careful doses and then periodically measuring the blood levels of targeted substances (as well as those that "support it" (by that I mean, like for example, if Vit D is low, Calcium absorption is reduced, which in turn impacts the amount of magnesium, which in turn impacts ... it all works together). I have yet to meet a doc who really understands the science behind this. It is very complex and requires painstaking effort to remediate vit def's. (If doc's were required to study metabolism, for example, we would have very few doc's.)To educated yourself as a "layperson" requires an almost herculean effort to find the actual research and then a great education (coupled with experience) and pretty solid analytical skills. Most of "us" do well to find a good nutritionist or Naturopath. And even then, to ensure that, at least, the bulk of what they say matches up with the published research (in peer-reviewed publications (and again, being careful to not be led astray by science you may not understand)in terms of consistency).
But your "heart" is in the right place to question, to be "skeptical".
And incidentally, long arms correlated with heart disease? I'm not surprised your cardio didn't tell you that people who suffer Marfan Syndrome--highly correlated with cardio events/death--have "longer" arms.
Yes; it would be "good" to be born with "perfect" genes. The "truth" is, though, that most of us are born with near-perfect genes (several million years of evolution guarantees this). We've just gotten away from a good diet (that nourishes our bodies and minds) as well a proper amount of exercise (humans require at least 2 hours of moderate exercise a day for health). Depression, pain, are but two "symptoms" of actual disease (of which neither depression or pain or bipolar disorder or hypertension or ... are diseases in themselves). Is it no wonder we feel bad when we eat poorly, don't get enough activity, spend all our days inside?
Good luck!

If your homocysteine is that high you may have a genetic SNP that affects your methylation. For example many people have a high vitamin B 12 level but you may not be able to methylate efficiently (convert it into a form that your body can use). You can get your MTHFR checked to see if that is the case. There is a more in depth test that takes much more interpretation but the MTHFR is a good place to start. I do functional medicine and we lower people's homocysteine every day along with many other risk factors.

Thank you Don, for me it came 43. In my whole family, its only me we exercise regularly at home,do yoga for 45-50 daily , i eat lot of nuts & fruits in my daily routine & also i eat leafy vegetables at least 2-3 times in week . Yes i do lot of stress in day .. who doesn't ,it so hard to survive in job these days..... I am not so why i got this much high level of homocystein. Yes previously i was having body pain in all parts, inflammation symptoms because i am guy who is suffering from IBS but i have made constant improvement in life style . This test result & above written facts i am unsure how to relate......