Compared with those with homocysteine below 9 μM, mortality was 1.9 times higher for those with homocysteine...

Originally shared by Alex P

Compared with those with homocysteine below 9 μM, mortality was 1.9 times higher for those with homocysteine 9.0-14.9 μM (micromol per liter), 2.8 times higher for those with levels of 15.0-19.9 μM, and 4.5 times higher for those with levels of 20.0 + μM ► N Engl J Med. 1997 Jul 24;337(4):230-6. ► free paper► http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199707243370403 or pdf at http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199707243370403.

A July 2017 review of studies (covering 28000 people) found, like dozens of other papers before, that for every 5 μM increase in homocysteine in the blood, ALL CAUSE MORTALITY goes up 33.6%. ► Sci Rep. 2017; 7: 4769 ► free paper ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500552/

Another study found that for every 5 μM increase in homocysteine in the blood, ALL CAUSE MORTALITY goes up 49%, with those having Homocysteine above 20 μM being 3.5 times more likely to die than those with homocysteine below 9 μM. ► Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Jul;74(1):130-6 ► free paper ► http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/1/130.long

Those with homocysteine below 11 μM were 2.74 times less likely to die compared to those with homocysteine above 11 μM ► J Nutr Health Aging. 2008 Dec;12(10):685-9. ► free paper ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3403819/

"With a plasma homocysteine level greater than 14 μM, the risk of Alzheimer's disease nearly doubled." ► N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 14;346(7):476-83. ► http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa011613

Vitamins B12-B9-B6 cut the natural aging brain shrinking in half. Those with homocysteine above 13 taking vitamin B12 (0.5 mg/day or 200 times higher than the daily RDA), B9 or folic (0.8 mg/day, double the RDA, RDA=recommended daily amount), B6 (20mg/day which is 10-15 times the RDA), for 24 months got brain shrinking (seen in MRI scans) 53% lower than those receiving placebo. ► PLoS One. 2010 Sep 8;5(9):e12244. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2935890/. The 8 B vitamins are water soluble and excess goes to urine. The same authors published a paper 3 years later showing that the same B12-B9-B6 vitamin treatment above led to ► SEVEN TIMES LESS ◄ brain shrinking in those gray matter regions specifically vulnerable to the Alzheimer process in people with homocysteine above 11 μM ► Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 4;110(23):9523-8. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677457/

For a very detailed post about vitamin B12, see also https://plus.google.com/+AlexPsi/posts/E4YCF9RuchL. B12 is what every vegan needs. My homocysteine level done on August 23rd 2017 was 7.9.

Vegans who do not take B12, B6, B9 supplements (multivitamins) have higher homocysteine than healthy and in some studies quite a bit higher than omnivores. Of course, longevity is not reflected via one marker, so one can live to 100 with a higher value for homocysteine than someone living 75, as longevity is much more accurately predicted by a mix of 200 bio markers. But we try to minimize our risks, and each diet has its own pluses and minuses, with B12 being low in vegan diets being the main minus. B12 lowers homocysteine, so some people who want to be all natural (trying to get B12 from vegan sources such as sea weed, nutritional yeast, etc) may end up harming themselves, especially as many papers say even omnivores are B12 deficient after 50 as absorption weakens in all aging people. 20 years ago there were very few vegan foods and even fewer fortified with B12, so the homocysteine in vegans who didn't take vitamins was quite high (higher by 40% in some cases than omnivores) as some of the old papers show. Today, due to the fortification of so many vegan foods with B12, homocysteine levels in vegans are lower, but not every vegan takes vitamins, B12 or B6 or B9, the 3 vitamins that lower homocysteine as explained in this December 2016 paper ► Nutrients. 2016 Dec; 8(12): 767. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5188422/. At http://walkinlab.com and other places, anyone can check their homocysteine as part of a blood test, for under 100 dollars - this can be done without doctor approval, just for your own research and long-term prevention, if homocysteine is high, it may well mean low vitamin B intake or absorption so using B vitamin supplements or a vitamin multivitamin with higher B vitamins may help bring homocysteine down, so next blood test shows a much healthier value. :)

Some vegans who eat enough B12, B6, B9 can get their homocysteine at 5 μM, which is 25% of the 20 μM level of some highly B12 deficient vegans or omnivores and much healthier than the level of most omnivores (around 10-12). The science is not yet very clear as to what level of homocysteine is too low, as we need homocysteine for detoxification, but very few people have it below 4.

Lower homocysteine meant lower depression, they lowered homocysteine by 4 μM using B vitamins and this lowered depression. ► Age Ageing. 2011 Nov;40(6):702-5. ► free paper ► https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ageing/afr086

You might also like the brain shrinking via high homocysteine video of Dr. Greger at ► https://youtu.be/57QwxhzItbQ. Very good is also the video on vitamin B12 deficiency (which causes homocysteine to rise dramatically) in people of all diets causing serious issues for arterial health ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpfNcYenz9c. This is all good to know by all, besides vegans, since many omnivores can be B12 deficient even at age 30 and a large percentage of all people over 50, regardless of diet.

► VEGANISM ◄

For 100+ reasons I didn't eat meat for 21 years and dairy for 13 years (12% of millennials have already given up meat in America) see ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexPsi/posts/Hz1V4iQUyyJ. Going vegan is like planting 62 trees in your backyard, as far as CO2 emissions reduction.💜😊💜

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