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There is little debate that the addition to diet of a high potency
multi B vitamin lowers homocysteine in probably everyone. The
"Perspective" by Dr. Loscalzo that accompanied the NEJM study (NEJM
2002;346:466-8) in fact added: "The simple addition to a normal diet of
large doses of folate, vitamin B12, and betaine to will substantially
reduce plasma homocysteine levels in most people."
The original study referred to in BMJ News (BMJ 2002;324:441) in fact
showed: "A plasma homocysteine level in the highest age-specific quartile
(not 30%) doubled the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease." This
association was found in the ~8% developing Alzheimer's and in the ~2% of
other dementia.
This is indeed a most important study and may well be the most
significant result from the Framingham study so far.
The most interesting fact about the dementia / high homocysteine /
low B-vitamin status link is that there are effectively no reported
negative side-effects of B vitamin supplementation, at least not when
taken in combination.
An unreported fact in the BMJ news item was that while mean
homocysteine levels in the 60-65 year age group was 11.5 umole/L and
increased to 22.3 in the 90-95 year old group, in ALL age groups,
remarkably low levels of below 6 were measured. High homocysteine is an
absolute marker, in groups or individuals, for poor nutrition as its level
is determined to a large degree by multiple vitamin levels and that of
several metals, especially magnesium.
Further studies exploring the link between homocysteine / suboptimal
nutrition / dementia and cardiovascular diseases are indeed urgently
needed since simple and cheap nutrient supplementation may well help
prevent these diseases that are so costly in human and financial terms.
Multi-B vitamins, homocysteine, sub-optimal nutrition and dementia.
There is little debate that the addition to diet of a high potency
multi B vitamin lowers homocysteine in probably everyone. The
"Perspective" by Dr. Loscalzo that accompanied the NEJM study (NEJM
2002;346:466-8) in fact added: "The simple addition to a normal diet of
large doses of folate, vitamin B12, and betaine to will substantially
reduce plasma homocysteine levels in most people."
The original study referred to in BMJ News (BMJ 2002;324:441) in fact
showed: "A plasma homocysteine level in the highest age-specific quartile
(not 30%) doubled the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease." This
association was found in the ~8% developing Alzheimer's and in the ~2% of
other dementia.
This is indeed a most important study and may well be the most
significant result from the Framingham study so far.
The most interesting fact about the dementia / high homocysteine /
low B-vitamin status link is that there are effectively no reported
negative side-effects of B vitamin supplementation, at least not when
taken in combination.
An unreported fact in the BMJ news item was that while mean
homocysteine levels in the 60-65 year age group was 11.5 umole/L and
increased to 22.3 in the 90-95 year old group, in ALL age groups,
remarkably low levels of below 6 were measured. High homocysteine is an
absolute marker, in groups or individuals, for poor nutrition as its level
is determined to a large degree by multiple vitamin levels and that of
several metals, especially magnesium.
Further studies exploring the link between homocysteine / suboptimal
nutrition / dementia and cardiovascular diseases are indeed urgently
needed since simple and cheap nutrient supplementation may well help
prevent these diseases that are so costly in human and financial terms.
Competing interests: No competing interests