Have You Checked Your Homocysteine Levels?
A growing body of scientific evidence links many age-related disorders to elevated homocysteine blood levels. In fact, high circulating homocysteine creates chemical stress on tissues throughout the body, and raises our risks for heart attacks, arrhythmias, strokes and neurodegenerative conditions including dementia.
Checking homocysteine levels should be part of yearly blood tests. Many functional medicine practitioners advise your target level for homocysteine should be below 10 micromol/L, with optimal levels being less than 7 micromol/L.
Some recent studies have estimated that as much as 47% of the population have levels greater than 10 and 23% have levels in excess of 12.
Homocysteine levels can be determined by a simple blood test and lowered with the proper forms of B vitamins. These include:
- Folate as 5-MTHF
- Vitamin B12 as methylcobalamin
- Vitamin B6 as pyridoxal 5'-phosphate
- Vitamin B2 as riboflavin-5-phosphate
Getting homocysteine blood levels in the optimal range can be an important factor in reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease. We encourage you to know your homocysteine blood levels! If levels are elevated, take action by taking the appropriate forms of B vitamins and retest after three months.
If you discover your homocysteine levels are elevated and are looking for a quality product with the proper forms and ratios of B vitamins, our recommended product is Homocysteine Supreme. To maintain balanced Homocysteine levels we recommend Methyl CpG. Both are available at www.vitopiahealth.com.