Homocysteine - A Biological Marker of Chronic Disease Risk
One summer, while I was a student, I worked in a paper plant. My job was to transport the final product to the shipping containers for delivery! It was fun running the forklift but if I got behind, the entire production line would back up. This would upset many centers in the plant and could even stop production all together.
The chemical reactions in our body are like tiny production lines. The final products are important substances like neurotransmitters for mood, fats for neurons and antioxidants for repairing damage.
Glutathione is the master antioxidant that repairs our cells and is important for health aginag.
Methylation is one extremely important production line in our body. Methylation is needed to activate vitamins like B12 and folic acid. These are needed for energy, red blood cell production, immune health and growth of healthy tissues.
Methylation is involved in turning on and off certain genes, making antioxidants like glutathione and even neurotransmitters in our brain!
When methylation becomes dysfunctional or seizes all together, so many other down stream pathways are disturbed which over time could lead to chronic disease.
So how do we check that the methylation production line is operating smoothly in our tissues?
We can check a marker called homocysteine!
Homocysteine is a biological product made from the methylation production line. If it is high, then it means something is backed up and needs clearing.
Homocysteine is measured in the blood.
Conditions like heart disease, Folate / B12 deficiencies, low energy, depression, inflammation and neurodegeneration are associated with high homocysteine.
Homocysteine goes on to make cystine and then glutathione our master antioxidant that cleans up cellular damage from toxic substances. When homocysteine levels elevate, however, the production line stops making glutathione! This can lead to a glutathione deficiency!
These key vitamins help to clear homocysteine and to get our methylation production line back to running smoothly.
1. B12
2. Folate
3. Betaine
4. B6
That said, if homocysteine dips to low then we can problems too! So, this is why its best to check with a simple blood test.
Homocysteine is included in our keto markers and cardio-matabolic pannel