*"You will all be aware of the importance of homocysteine and the link
to heart disease. It has been reported in peer review journals that
lowering your homocysteine levels can reduce the risk of heart disease
by 16%. Now in new research, Jacqueline Young, a leading nutritionist,
turns the homocysteine spotlight to people who over-exercise and the
findings are another endorsement for optimising your homocysteine
levels." Gill Hart, YorkTest Scientific Director.*
* *
*Title: A randomised controlled trial investigating the effect of
nutritional supplementation on blood plasma homocysteine levels in
active healthy people who exercise
*Author: Jacqueline Young
Abstract
*The role of elevated levels of homocysteine, a naturally occurring
amino acid in the body, is gradually becoming recognized as a
significant factor in ageing and for a whole host of diseases including
heart disease, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer.
Various factors have been identified that can lower homocysteine
especially the nutrients folic acid, Vitamins B6 and B12 and
Trimethlyglycine (TMG) and also physical exercise.*
*Objectives:* To determine the effect of a nutritional supplement
containing the above nutrients in therapeutic doses on the homocysteine
levels of healthy individuals that engage in exercise, as measured by a
pin-prick blood test.
*Method:* This randomised controlled trial recruited 100 participants
from two local leisure centres and from a college of natural medicine.
Blood plasma homocysteine levels were measured by means of the YorkTest
plasma separator home test kit, at baseline and after 6 weeks of
supplementation, and analysed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography
(HPLC) at their laboratory. Participants were randomly assigned to take
either a combined nutrient supplement (AOR Homocysteine plus), that has
been formulated with the aim of lowering homocysteine, or a vegetable
cellulose placebo. Assignment was made according to a random number
generator and masking was achieved by means of third party coding of
identical active and placebo containers. Exercise levels and food
frequency were assessed by means of questionnaires.
*Results*: Results were analysed for 84 patients at baseline.
Descriptive statistics showed that data was normalized and randomisation
achieved as there was no significant difference between treatment and
control group homocysteine levels at baseline ((F = .277, p> 0.05).
Homocysteine was found to be significantly related to age (Pearson r =
.282, p< 0.01), dietary folate intake (Pearson r = -.472, p<0.01) and
exercise level (One way ANOVA F=10.410, p <0.01) but not gender
(independent t- test F= .002, p >0.05). A paired-t-test of 30
post-intervention scores showed a significant decrease in homocysteine
for the treatment group (t= 0.646, p<0.05) but no significant difference
for controls (t= 0.646, p>0.050).
*Conclusion*: The AOR combined nutrient supplement was found to
effectively lower homocysteine regardless of level of baseline
homocysteine. Many reductions were > 3 µmol/L homocysteine, indicative
of a significant reduction in disease risk. Regular, 'moderate' levels
of exercise seem to yield the lowest homocysteine measures. The Yorktest
pin-prick homocysteine test was an effective tool for identifying
undetected high levels of homocysteine in healthy members of leisure
centres and for evaluating the efficacy of the combined nutrient
supplement on homocysteine levels
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