If you are already in your fifties or sixties, you might be tempted to view all this news with gloom. But with a guaranteed solution the news is all good, because you can begin to do something about it right now.
Measuring your homocysteine
Your homocysteine level is easy to measure at home (see Resources). Homocysteine is measured in mmol/l. We used to think a “high” level was above 15 units (mmol/l). This is what increases your risk of a heart attack and doubles your Alzheimer’s risk. Now, however, levels as low as 7 units are being linked to increased disease risk. Basically, there’s no official safe level and no guarantee that the diet and supplements you are currently taking are keeping homocysteine at bay. Up to 30 percent of people with a history of heart disease have a homocysteine level above 14 units. The majority of Americans have homocysteine levels above 10. However, experts believe that a level below 6 units is ideal. If you have any of the associated risk factors below it’s especially important to get tested.
High homocysteine risk factors
These include:
Genetic inheritance, meaning family history of heart disease, strokes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, or diabetes
Folate intake of less than 900 mcg/day
Increasing age
Male sex
Estrogen deficiency
Excessive alcohol, coffee, or tea intake
Smoking
Lack of exercise
Hostility and repressed anger
Inflammatory bowel diseases (celiac, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis)
H. pylori-generated ulcers
Pregnancy
Being a strict vegetarian or vegan
High-fat diet with excessive red meat, high-fat dairy intake
High salt intake
Lowering your homocysteine
The good news is that, whatever your homocysteine level is, you can lower it with the right combination of nutrients and dietary changes, together with lifestyle changes designed to reduce your risk. Follow the H Factor Diet below.
The H Factor Diet
EAT LESS FATTY MEAT AND MORE FISH AND VEGETABLE PROTEIN
Eat no more than four servings of lean meat a week. Eat fish (but not fried) at least three times a week; and if you’re not allergic or intolerant, a serving of a soy-based food, such as tofu, tempeh, or soy sausages; or beans, such as kidney beans, chickpea hummus, or baked beans, at least five times a week.
EAT YOUR GREENS
Have at least five servings of fruit or vegetables a day. This means eating two pieces of fruit every single day and three servings of vegetables. Vary your selections from day to day. Make sure half of what’s on your plate for each main meal is vegetables.
HAVE A CLOVE OF GARLIC A DAY
Either eat a clove of garlic a day or take a garlic supplement every day. You can take garlic oil capsules or powdered garlic supplements.
DON’T ADD SALT TO YOUR FOOD
Don’t add salt while you’re cooking or to the food on your plate. The only salt I consider healthy is Solo salt, which has half the sodium of ordinary salt and lots of potassium and magnesium. Use this in moderation instead.
CUT BACK ON TEA AND COFFEE
Don’t drink more than one cup of caffeinated or noncaffeinated coffee, or two cups of tea, in a day. Instead, choose from the wide variety of herbal teas and grain coffees available.
LIMIT YOUR ALCOHOL
Limit your alcohol intake to no more than half a pint of beer, or one glass of red wine, in a day. Ideally, limit your intake to two pints of beer or four glasses of wine a week.
REDUCE YOUR STRESS
If you are under a lot of stress, or find yourself reacting stressfully much of the time, make a decision to reduce your stress load by changing both the circumstances that are giving you stress and your attitude. Simple additions to your life, such as yoga, meditation, and/or exercise, or seeing a counselor if you have some issues to resolve, can make all the difference.
STOP SMOKING
If you smoke, make a decision to stop, and seek help to do it. There is simply no safe level of smoking as far as homocysteine and your health are concerned. Smoking is nothing less than slow suicide. The sooner you stop the longer you’ll live.
CORRECT ESTROGEN DEFICIENCY
If you are postmenopausal, or have menopausal symptoms or other menstrual irregularities, check your estrogen and progesterone levels with a hormone saliva test. If you are estrogen- or progesterone-deficient, you can correct this with “natural progesterone” HRT in the form of a transdermal skin cream. Natural progesterone has none of the risks associated with HRT and your body can make its own estrogen from progesterone.
SUPPLEMENT A HIGH-STRENGTH MULTIVITAMIN EVERY DAY
Take a high-strength multivitamin and mineral supplement providing at least 25 mg of the main B vitamins, 200 mcg of folate, and 10 mcg each of vitamins B12 and B6, plus A, D, and E, and the minerals magnesium, selenium, chromium, and zinc. Also supplement 1 g of vitamin C for general health, as well as the specific homocysteine-lowering nutrients indicated below.
TAKE HOMOCYSTEINE SUPPLEMENTS
The most powerful and quickest way to restore a normal H score, below 6 units, is to supplement specific homocysteine-lowering nutrients. These include vitamins B2, B6, B12, folic acid, trimethyl glycine (TMG), and zinc. Here are the guidelines:
The current vogue is to recommend folic acid. However, this alone is far less effective than the right nutrients in combination. The amount you need also depends on your current homocysteine level. One study found that homocysteine scores were reduced by 17 percent on high-dose folic acid alone; 19 percent on vitamin B12 alone; 57 percent on folic acid plus B12; and 60 percent on folic acid, B12, and B6.62 All this was achieved in three weeks!
However, even better results would have been achieved by including trimethyl glycine (TMG). TMG is the best “methyl donor” to supplement, better than SAMe. This is because only it can immediately donate a methyl group to homocysteine, thus detoxifying it (see figure on the next page).
In a study in New Zealand, the homocysteine scores of patients with chronic kidney failure and very high homocysteine levels were reduced by a further 18 percent when 4 g of TMG was given, along with 50 mg of vitamin B6 and 5,000 mcg of folate, compared with the levels of patients taking just B6 and folic acid.63 Some companies produce combinations of these nutrients (see www.thehfactor.com). These are the most cost-effective supplements for restoring a healthy homocysteine level.
The combination of the diet and supplements recommended above has the potential to half your homocysteine score in weeks. The goal is to bring your score to below 6. Mine is 4.5. Your homocysteine score is probably the best objective measure of whether you are achieving optimum nutrition for you.
The methyl donors. The body needs “methyl groups.” Choline, found in eggs and in lecithin, contains these, as does TMG (also called betaine), found in sugar beets and other vegetables. TMG is the best source because it can donate one methyl group (becoming DMG) and turn toxic homocysteine into SAMe, the body’s best methyl-group carrier.
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Living Food—The Phytochemical Revolution
Every time you eat a natural food, for example, a piece of broccoli, you are receiving a cocktail of a vast number of active compounds that will influence your health for the better. Some of these, as we’ve seen, are classified as vitamins, minerals, essential fats, or amino acids. However, there are many more substances that play a very important part in your health. These are called phytochemicals (phyton means “plant” in Greek) and have a major impact on our body systems, helping to promote health and prevent disease.
Phytochemicals are biologically active compounds in food; they are not classified as nutrients, in that our lives do not depend on them as they do on vitamins. However, they do play a vital role in the body’s biochemistry in ways that affect our health as significantly as vitamins and minerals. In this sense, they are best thought of as
semiessential nutrients. As they are not stored in the body, it is best to eat foods rich in phytochemicals on a regular basis. Over a hundred phytochemicals have been identified, some of which act as antioxidants, immune system boosters, and hormone stabilizers. Listed below are those with proven health benefits.
PHYTOCHEMICALS FOUND IN COMMON FOODS
Allium compounds Dithiolthiones Phenols
Anthocyanidins Ellagic acid Phytoestrogens
Bioflavonoids Genistein Phytosterols
Boswellic acid Glucosinolates Piperine
Capsaicin Indoles Proanthocyanidins
Carotenoids Isothiocyanates Probiotics
Chlorogenic acid Lentinan Querceti n
Chlorophyll Lignans Saponins
Coumarins Lutein Sulforaphane
Curcumin Lycopene Zeanxanthin
Now let’s take a look at how some of these phytochemicals can support your health.
Phytochemicals—nature’s pharmacy
Allium compounds: Members of the Allium genus include garlic, onions, leeks, chives, and shallots. Garlic has long been renowned as a health food, with many benefits attributed to it. Though it is rich in many vitamins and minerals, the main active ingredients seem to be sulfur compounds. These include allicin, allixin, diallyl disulfide, and diallyl trisulfide.
Studies from China show that people who eat a lot of garlic are protected against stomach cancer.64 This may be because garlic is able to block the conversion of nitrites and nitrates (found in many preserved foods) into cancer-causing nitrosamines. Garlic can also inhibit the action of aflatoxins, which are naturally occurring substances found in peanuts and other foods, which can cause cancer. The results of a large study involving 41,837 women from Iowa aged between fifty-five and sixty-nine indicated that garlic was the most protective type of vegetable against colon cancer. Women who said they ate garlic at least once a week were 50 percent less likely to contract colon cancer than those who said they never ate it.65 By acting as an antioxidant, garlic helps prevent both cancer and heart disease.
Garlic significantly lowers cholesterol in the blood and prevents atherosclerosis. A three-year study at Tagore Medical College in India divided over four hundred patients who had already suffered heart attacks into two groups. One group was given garlic supplements (equal to six to ten cloves per day)—they suffered fewer heart attacks and had significantly lower cholesterol counts than those who did not take garlic.66 Garlic also helps prevent blood clots—probably a safer way to maintain thin blood than taking an aspirin a day, which can cause stomach bleeding.
Anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins: These are particularly plentiful in berries and grapes. These are types of bioflavonoids (see below), reputedly good against gout and certain types of arthritis.
Bioflavonoids: These have a number of beneficial roles. They act as potent antioxidants; they can bind to toxic metals and escort them out of the body; they have a synergistic effect on vitamin C, stabilizing it in human tissue; they have a bacteriostatic and/or antibiotic effect, which accounts for their anti-infection properties; and they are also anticarcinogenic. They are used to deal with capillary fragility, bleeding gums, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, bruises, strain injuries, and thrombosis. Bioflavonoids include rutin (lots in buckwheat) and hesperidin, found particularly in citrus fruits. The best food sources are rosehips, buckwheat leaves, citrus fruit, berries, broccoli, cherries, grapes, papaya, cantaloupe melon, plums, tea, red wine, and tomatoes. There are also special bioflavonoids in cucumbers that stop cancer-causing hormones from binding to cells.
Boswellic acid: This is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, and therefore helpful with conditions such as arthritis; it is found in the herb frankincense.
Capsaicin: Abundant in hot peppers, it helps protect DNA from damage.
Carotenoids: As the name implies, carotenoids—one type of which is beta-carotene—are plentiful in carrots. They are also abundant in other fruit and vegetables including sweet potato, watercress, and peas. They act as important antiaging antioxidants.
Chlorophyll: This is the substance that makes green plants green. Chlorophyll-rich foods like wheat grass, algae, seaweeds, and green vegetables help “build” the blood. Vitamins C, B12, B6, A, K, and folic acid are among the nutrients needed to keep blood healthy. Research has shown that components of chlorophyll found in foods, when fed in very small, purified amounts, may stimulate the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow. Chlorophyll has been shown to help protect against cancer and certain forms of radiation, to kill germs, and to act as a powerful wound healer. Cereal grasses have the nutrient profile of a dark green vegetable rather than that of a grain, so they are gluten-free and safe for those who have celiac disease (due to allergy to gluten).
Coumarins and chlorogenic acid: These substances prevent the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines and are found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, green peppers, pineapple, strawberries, and carrots.
Curcumin: A powerful antioxidant found in mustard, turmeric, corn, and yellow peppers.
Ellagic acid: Present in strawberries, grapes, and raspberries, ellagic acid neutralizes carcinogens before they can damage DNA. A common cancer-producing chemical found in some meat, called nitrosamine, is put out of action by strawberries. In fact, research has shown that strawberries are second only to garlic for their anticancer properties against nitrosamines.67 One of the reasons, apart from their high antioxidant levels, that strawberries and raspberries come out on top is that they are very high in ellagic acid, also an anticancer nutrient. According to research at the Indiana University School of Medicine, ellagic acid in strawberries and raspberries protects healthy cells from developing into cancer cells.68 Ellagic acid also protects you from another common carcinogen, aflatoxin.69 This is found in low levels in a number of foods, including peanuts.
Genistein: Abundant in soybeans, this substance, a type of phytoestrogen (see below), prevents breast, prostate, and other lumps from growing and spreading. Research is beginning to focus on two isoflavonoids—genistein and daidzein. Japanese women, who generally have a lower risk of breast cancer than women in other industrialized societies, have been found to have higher levels of these in their bodies. They may protect against the harmful effects of unopposed estrogen. In fact, a recent study from Singapore, which monitored a group of women for early signs of breast cancer, found that the more soy a woman ate, the less chance there was of her having precancer changes in her breast cells.
A likely ideal intake for cancer prevention is around 5 mg a day of genistein and daidzein, which you can get from a 12 oz. serving of soy milk or a serving of tofu. Soy milk can be used in drinks and on cereal like cow’s milk, while tofu is excellent in stir-fries. Tofu is the richest source of isoflavones, while very processed soy products are the poorest source. However, I don’t advise having much more than this. Even plant estrogens could, theoretically, be estrogenic in excess, and you can develop allergies to soy if you eat too much of it.
Glucosinolates: These are one of the most important anticancer and liver-friendly nutrients found in food. According to the World Cancer Research Fund, there’s convincing evidence that foods high in glucosinolates reduce risk for lung cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, and probably breast cancer. That’s why broccoli is considered so good for you. Broccolini is by far the richest source discovered, followed by broccoli and Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables. Glucosinolates have this profound anticancer effect by helping the liver detoxify.
In an ingenious study, volunteers were given Brussels sprouts that had their glucosinolates removed, versus regular Brussels sprouts. Those eating the regular Brussels sprouts had 30 percent more active liver enzyme function, showing just how powerful glucosinolates are for boosting your ability to detoxify.
Isothiocyanates (ITCs) and indoles: These are plentiful in cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cress, horseradish, kale,
kohlrabi, mustard, radishes, and turnips. One of the highest food sources is Broccolini, which is a cross between kale and broccoli. Strawberries and raspberries are another rich source.
Eating fruit or vegetables rich in ITCs is now linked to a lower incidence of cancer, particularly of the colon. Research has shown that if you eat cabbage more than once a week, you are only one-third as likely to develop colon cancer as someone who never eats cabbage. This means that one serving of cabbage a week could cut your chances of colon cancer by 60 percent. Both broccoli and Brussels sprouts also show a dose-dependent protective response against cancer. Isiothiocyanates don’t just help prevent cancer; they reverse it by killing cancer cells. Strawberries and raspberries, for example, have been shown to inhibit cancer development in cervical,70 esophageal,71 and oral cancer,72 and probably prostate cancer.
Lentinan: Two species of mushrooms, shiitake and reishi, are rich sources of this powerful anticancer agent. In animal studies, it has shown antitumor properties. Lentinan is widely used in Japanese hospitals to treat cancer. It also induces the production of interferon, the body’s own antiviral chemical used to fight off infection. Other research suggests that lentinan may have potential in the fight against AIDS. It has demonstrated anti-HIV activity, and in one U.S. study, 30 percent of patients taking lentinan who were HIV positive showed an increase in their T-cell counts after twelve weeks.
The New Optimum Nutrition Bible Page 16
