Lowering High Homocysteine

Homocysteine, like cholesterol, occurs naturally in the body and is not inherently toxic. Even if you could totally eliminate homocysteine from your body, you would not want to. Homocysteine is a byproduct of the chemical steps the body uses to transform methionine, an amino acid abundant in meat, fish, and dairy products, into S-adenosyl-methionine, better known as SAM-e. The linings of cells in the arteries and the brain are repaired by SAM-e.

When SAM-e has done its work, it becomes homocysteine. When there is enough of the B vitamin folic acid, the body transforms homocysteine back into methionine to restart the production of SAM-e, or it can transform it into carnitine, glutathione, or taurine, amino acids with other, well-known protective uses. When there is not enough folic acid, however, homocysteine becomes “stuck” in the biochemical cycle and accumulates.

Homocysteine itself is not toxic to the arteries or to the brain. The problem with having too much homocysteine is that the body simultaneously has too little SAM-e, carnitine, glutathione, and taurine. Depriving the brain of these protective chemicals accelerates the process leading to Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

The simplest way to get enough folic acid to prevent the accumulation of homocysteine is to eat fruits and vegetables. Five 3-1/2 oz (100 g) servings a day is enough. Folic acid is also abundant in certain Southern comfort foods, notably rice, black-eyed peas, and turnip greens, parbroiled rice and dried peas better than fresh, but fresh greens better than canned or frozen. Rice, black-eyed peas, lentils, and greens are relatively low in calories (provided they are not served with oil, butter, or salted pork), and very useful in homocysteine-lowering prevention diet.

Is a vegetarian diet best for lowering homocysteine?

It would be perfectly reasonable ask whether restricting consumption of foods high in methionine, mainly animal foods, adopting a vegetarian diet as well as the practice of intermittent fasting, would indirectly lower homocysteine. The answer seems to be no. A six-month controlled trial in Denmark found that people who ate largely vegan diets had no more luck at controlling homocysteine than people who ate considerable quantities of dairy products and meat. A study of Buddhist nuns in Taiwan found that life-long vegetarians had higher homocysteine levels than women who ate meat, probably because of a deficiency of another B-vitamin, B12.