Annette Karnash RN, MSN
Between 1992-1996, 587 Norwegian people with a history of heart disease were surveyed in a research study. Sixty-four men and women, many of who had by pass surgery, that had died were found to have elevated levels of the amino acid, homocysteine. Since that time there have been more than 50 studies suggesting a correlation between high homocysteine levels and coronary disease mortality.
Homocysteine appears to respond to nothing more than vegetables and taking a few vitamins, unlike cholesterol, which is associated with coronary problems but can often be treated only by medication and a rigid diet. Homocysteine appears to be a difinite risk factor for heart disease. The body to help manufacture proteins and carry out cellular metabolism uses Homocysteine. However, too much can couse blood platelets to clump together and vascular walls then begin to break down. In older patients, it is felt that a lifetime of this damage present scarred, thickened arteries that produce circulating cholesterol with a place to stick and grow. It is felt that the underlying cuase of heart disease is an imbalance in the system that controls homocysteine levels.
When in 1969, Dr. Kilmer McCully from Harvard, studied the case of an 8 year old boy who died from a stroke, he found the boy’s bloostream had an excess amount of homocysteine and his sclerosed arteries had the look of an elderly man. Accelerated homocysteine production caused by a genetic defect apparently led to the accelerated damage.
The 64 Norwegians who died were among those with the highest levels of homocysteine. Those individuals with elevated homocysteine are 4 1/2 times as likely to die of heart disease as those with normal levels.
Evidence points to a shortage of vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid in those who overproduce. All of these help to convert amino acid into a molecular form the body can use. The Harvard Health Letter recommends increasing consumption of grains, peas, certain meats, dairy foods and leafy green vegetables to keep homocysteine in check.
