Heave-ho for homocysteine?

Published: June, 2006

High doses of B vitamins lower homocysteine but don't fix heart disease.

After a troubled and contentious birth, the homocysteine hypothesis grew up to be embraced by some doctors, researchers, and a public hoping for an easy and inexpensive fix for heart disease. According to this theory, homocysteine — a by-product of protein digestion — wreaks havoc in blood vessels and contributes to the artery-clogging process known as atherosclerosis. If that's true, then lowering homocysteine levels in the blood with a trio of B vitamins should fight atherosclerosis.

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