The fact about homocysteine
Did you doctor ever talk about homocysteine with you? Typically when you see your doctor for a general health check up, she will measure your blood cholesterol level and blood pressure. Unfortunately, one other reading, homocysteine level, is not usually performed and given unless you asked for one. What is homocysteine? It is an amino acid made in your body from protein which is in itself not dangerous. However, when excess homocysteine from inside the cell gets shoved into the circulatory system for disposal it may spell danger to your heart than any other single risk factor. Too much of it surging through your arteries can cause injury to the walls, eventually allowing cholesterol to build up and block off blood flow causing a heart attack or stroke.
How can we control the healthy level of homocysteine? Consume more of the three vitamin Bs -folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12- in your diet is the sure answer. The three vitamins help break down homocysteine and clearing it from your system. So, seek and eat food that are good sources of those three vitamins. My recommendation is banana which provides 36 percent of your B6 needs. In addition, a serving of ready-to-eat breakfast cereal supplies 100 percent of your folate daily requirement.
Milk: wonderful drink
Got milk recently? Milk is undoubtedly a wonderful drink that offers a wide array of health benefit. The calcium contained in milk keeps your heart healthy. A study showed that people who regularly consume a sufficient intake of calcium tend to have normal blood pressure. The healthy nutrient also prevent the detrimental bone disease osteoporosis. Next in the list is the content of vitamin B12 along with folate and vitamin B6 which together help clear our artery from homocysteine, an artery-damaging substance.
The only question remains is what about the fat content? Despite all those healthy nutrients, milk is packed with fat. A one-cup serving contains about 8 gr fat (5gr of it is saturated fat). This serving alone already takes 25% of our daily value. There are many types of milk depending on their fat content (whole milk, reduced-fat milk, low-fat milk, skim, buttermilk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk). The guideline from me is then you need to watch out for the fat content. If your blood cholesterol level is higher than normal, it is wise to consider to substitute the whole milk with reduced-fat(2%) or low-fat milk (1%). In this case, you might need to sacrifice a little of taste for the benefit of your heart.
Photo by Adrian
