Cholesterol versus Homocysteine

High homocysteine levels in your blood can cause heart attacks and stroke in 15% of the cases. This theory was developed by Dr. Mc Cully in the 1960's, at the Harvard Medical School, but killed by the drug companies, because the cholesterol theory made more sense to the general public.

Has your doctor ever recommended a blood test to check your homocysteine level? After you have read this article, I guarantee you will wonder why. Not many people have ever heard of it, yet it is responsible for ca 15% of all heart attacks and strokes in the world.

Wouldn't it be worth to know more about this major killer, more so when you realize that you can correct it by simply taking vitamin B?

The research on homosysteine was done by Dr. Kelmer Mc Cully, a promising pathologist and researcher, who graduated from the Harvard Medical School in the mid 1960's.

Dr. Mc Cullly was in particular interested in studies that involved the connection of biochemistry with disease. He earned a strong reputation and became assistant professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr Mc Cully discovered that children who had a genetic defect that kept them from breaking down an essential amino acid called methionine. These children showed a tremendous buildup of a by-product, called homocysteine.

Dr. Mc Cully looked at two special cases of two under eight years old boys, who died from a heart attack. When he examined the boys' pathology slides, he discovered that the damage to the arteries was similar to that of an elderly man, who had severe hardening of the arteries.

This led Dr. Mc Cully to wonder whether mild to moderate elevations of homocysteine that were present over a lifetime could be a cause of heart attacks and strokes in the average patient.

Homocysteine is an intermediate byproduct that we produce when our bodies breakdown the amino acid called methionine. It is found in large quantities in meat, eggs, milk, cheese, white flour, canned foods and highly processed foods.

Unlike cholesterol, which the body needs for the production of certain cell parts and hormones, homocysteine provides no health benefit. The higher the level of homocysteine, the greater the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Homocysteine is converted by our bodies into either cysteine or back to methionine again. These products are not harmful, however, the enzymes to break down homocysteine into cysteine, need folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. If we are deficient in these nutrients, the homocysteine levels in our blood begin to rise.

Dr. Mc Cully's theory was shut down and he lost his job at Harvard's, because at that time the cholesterol- heart attack theory was gaining tremendous momentum and Dr Mc Cully's hypothesis were a threat to its future.

The cholesterol theory achieved great victory and killed all other threatening theories.

Drug companies made their fortunes and everybody was convinced that heart attacks and strokes were associated with high blood cholesterol levels. Are you? If you have read my article about Nutritional Medicine, you should know better!

Anyway, the medical society and the pharmaceutical Companies did an excellent job selling this to the medical community and to the general public.

Mediterranean Diet: How to Lower Cholesterol Effortlessly by Including More Tomatoes in Your Diet

Recent scientific studies have shown that people who eat regularly tomatoes and tomato products are less likely to suffer from heart attacks than those who don?t make tomatoes part of their diets.

Introduction
The traditional Mediterranean diet, rich in tomatoes, tomato products, and other carotenoids has been associated with a lower incidence of chronic diseases, including heart disease. Recent scientific studies have shown that people who eat regularly tomatoes and tomato products are less likely to suffer from heart attacks than those who don?t make tomatoes part of their diets.

Tomatoes and the arteries
Tomatoes are crucial in the fight against heart disease because they contain lycopene. Lycopene has been identified as the responsible substance for the antioxidant effects of tomatoes in many studies; recent research suggests that consumption of tomato products prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, the ?bad? guy. Oxidized cholesterol is considered the primary initial step leading to the formation of plaque in the arteries and consequently to heart attacks.

What is lycopene?
Lycopene is the red pigment found in several fruits and vegetables such as guava, rosehips, watermelon, pink grapefruit, and red chilies, but it mainly comes from tomatoes and tomato products. As a powerful antioxidant, lycopene prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol caused by free radicals. Free radicals are highly unstable and destructive molecules that subject our cells to oxidative stress, continuous damage that eventually kills the cells. When radicals kill or damage enough cells in an organism, the organism ages and eventually dies. In a study to investigate the effects of tomato lycopene on the oxidation of cholesterol, Agarwal and colleagues provided the participants one-to-two servings per day of tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, and concentrated lycopene for one week. The study showed an important reduction of oxidized LDL cholesterol.

Lycopene can also reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood. For three months, 60 men were fed 60 milligrams of lycopene per day?the equivalent found in 1 kilo of tomatoes. At the end of the treatment period, the results showed a 14 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol in the blood.

Absorption of lycopene
An important consideration in studying lycopene is its absorption by our cells. Our tissues have to gulp lycopene from the food we eat and get it inside our cells before they can put it to some use. Research has shown that the level of lycopene found in our organs? tissues is a better indicator of disease prevention than the amount of lycopene we eat. Individuals who have a high concentration of lycopene in their tissues have a lower risk of heart attacks than those who have a low level. In a two-week study conducted by Micozzi, the subjects followed a diet that did not contain lycopene. By the end of the second week, the level of lycopene in the blood of these individuals had decreased by 50 percent and the cholesterol oxidation had increased by 25 percent.

Research has also shown that lycopene is better absorbed when the meal includes some fat.

How to increase absorption of lycopene
Lycopene appears more readily in the blood if the meal includes a source of fat or if the tomatoes have been heated, as in the case of tomato sauce and tomato paste. Heat changes the chemical structure of lycopene and makes it ready for our cells to swallow it up. Once inside the cells, it is deposited in all our organs. A study published in 1998 showed that our cells absorb lycopene better from processed tomato products than from fresh tomatoes.

To increase the level of lycopene in your body tissues you can do several things:

a. Process the tomatoes with heat. An example would be tomato sauce, tomato paste, or tomato soup.

b. Eat fresh tomatoes with fats such as olive oil.

c. Eat products that contain lycopene with other food antioxidants. An example would be eating tomatoes with other vegetables such as in salads or eating a piece of fruit for dessert. Use olive oil and lemon juice as dressing, and you will have the perfect combination of lycopene and antioxidants.

d. In a study conducted by Tyssandier and colleagues, the subjects were supplemented with 96 grams of tomato puree per day for three months. The volunteers then avoided foods rich in tomatoes for the next three weeks. The results showed that including tomato puree in a regular diet significantly increased blood lycopene, beta-carotene, and lutein. Avoiding tomato products for three weeks decreased the level of all antioxidants as well as the total antioxidant capacity of the blood.

Ways to Include More Tomatoes in Your Meals

a. Make it a point to always have tomatoes at home. Bright red, ripe tomatoes have more lycopene than green or yellow.

b. Always include tomatoes in your salads. Use olive oil and lemon or vinegar as dressing.

c. Eat pasta with tomato sauce.

d. Add some tomato slices to your sandwich.

e. Rub half a tomato on the bread you eat with your meal.

f. Always keep canned tomatoes??no salt added??on hand. They are very handy when you are in a hurry and need them for soups or sauces. One of my favorite brands is Muir Glen Organic? ?no salt added,? of course.

g. Whenever possible, visit your local farmers? market and look for locally grown tomatoes.

Is pizza a good combination of tomato and fat?
Although pizza is not the ideal combination of fat and lycopene because the fat in cheese is mainly saturated, the wrong type for our arteries, you can eat pizza in moderation. Ask the waiter or cook to go easy on the cheese and hold the pepperoni and ham.