Do we have to avoid meat if we have high homocysteine levels? Not really.
What our body does with homocysteine is more important than our food intake. I thought this was easier to explain in video form, so you can see my 4 minute explanation here:
The bottom line is we need to know our methylation status, make sure we have adequate levels of folate, B12 and B6, and make sure we have adequate choline (found in egg yolks). If all those are perfect, and we still have elevated homocysteine, then we may want to experiment with a diet low in methionine to see if it makes a difference.
As always, however, we have to evaluate our overall health picture and not get too hung up on one blood marker. The more important questions to ask are how does homocysteine affect my overall health, and how will altering my supplements or diet change the big picture?
Hopefully this helps! Let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Thanks for reading (and watching!)
Bret Scher MD FACC
