| Homocysteine and Heart Disease Like cholesterol, homocysteine can be useful. Our bodies derive it from methionine, an amino acid that is derived from animal protein and is used to build and maintain tissues. During normal metabolism, any excess Homocysteine is quickly swept away. With the help of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid, the liver either converts it back into methionine or breaks it down for excretion. But when this process is disrupted, the consequences can be dire. Dr. Kilmer McCully, a pathologist discovered this back in 1968 while studying a rare genetic disease disorder called homocystinuria. No one has ever demonstrated that circulating cholesterol is what first injures the arterial wall. But because cholesterol collects there, experts have been content to think of cholesterol as the primary culprit. Dr. McCully has spent three decades advancing another idea. He believes that the initial injury is caused NOT by cholesterol but by homocysteine. Dr. McCully’s theories may be right because he found that many of the known risk factors for heart attack and stroke can be explained with homocysteine. Smoking and inactivity tend to raise homocysteine levels. Also during their reproductive years, women’s homocysteine levels are roughly 20 percent lower than men’s, but after menopause women’s homocysteine levels and heart-disease risk, rise to male levels. Both sexes experience homocysteine increases in old age as the body grows less efficient at absorbing B vitamins, and their heart-disease rates rise accordingly. Researchers have known for years that animals injected with homocysteine produced arterial plaques. Fortunately taking supplements of B12, B6 and Folic acid, that may cost a few cents per day, will reduce homocysteine levels, which may prevent heart disease and cause the pharmaceutical industry millions of dollars of losses from the sale of cholesterol lowering drugs. Not mention the millions of dollars lost to the “low-cholesterol” food processing industry. Is the American public being told the truth or have they continued to lie to us as usual for the almighty dollar? “Think about it for a minute…if you are deficient in Vitamin B6, B12 and Folic Acid…do you think that it may be possible that you are deficient in all the rest of you vitamins and minerals?” * Many drugs deplete vitamin B-6, putting an individual at risk for not having enough protective factors against high homocysteine levels. These include aspirin, alcohol, antibiotics, some cholesterol drugs, blood pressure drugs, and some asthma medication. Birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy can deplete B-6 and folic acid, and corticosteroids deplete B-6, B-12 and folic acid, which are the three major B vitamins in the homocysteine pathway. ? The important role of these B vitamins, “in breaking down this amino acid has led to a suspicion that diets rich in these vitamins protect the heart” (Science News, ibid). One of the most recent studies, carried out by Eric Rimm (who was one of the first to correlate vitamin E with decreased risk for heart disease), covered 80,000 women who were enrolled in a Nurses’Health Study. (Rimm W. J Am Med Assoc Feb 4, 1998). When the amounts and kinds of B vitamins were measured, it was found that for every 200 mcg of folate consumed daily, a woman’s heart disease risk fell by 11 percent (even after adjusting for other risk factors). For every 2 mg increase in B-6 consumption, heart disease risk plummeted by 17 %. It wasn’t that many years ago that you were not allowed to buy FOLIC ACID and now that is all you hear about. Generally, most vitamins and minerals will not cause you harm unless you mega-dose for long periods of time and if you stop taking them it usually solves the problem. BUT, why is it that over-the-counter drugs that any minor can purchase have been well documented to have caused death and the FDA doesn’t try to ban or regulate the sell of them. Not to mention the toxic cleaning chemicals sold in every grocery store in this country that causes injury and death to children and adults every year in this country. Where is the equity…where is the fairness…where is the common sense behind the safety and track record of natural medicine? If you are concerned about whether to take supplements, phytonutrients, soy, St. Johns, Provex CV, iron etc…open your eyes. You take MEDICINE when you need to treat a condition that warrants it…you take supplements etc. to PREVENT the problem in the first place. How many prescription medications can you think of say. “Prevention of?” |
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