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Suppression of homocysteine levels by vitamin b12 and folates: age and gender dependency in the jackson heart study
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 08/16/2012
Henry OR et al. – The results show that, as with other populations, age, gender, vitamin B12 and folate may predict homocysteine levels for African Americans. Diet may be an important predictive factor as well, given the relationships that were observed between plasma homocysteine and serum B vitamin levels.
Methods- Of 5192 African American Jackson Heart Study participants (21–94 years), 5064 (mean age, 55 ± 13 years; 63% female) had homocysteine levels measured via fasting blood samples, with further assessments of participants' vitamin B12 (n = 1790) and folate (n = 1788) levels.
- Regression analyses were used to examine age, gender, vitamin B12 and folate with homocysteine levels.
- Homocysteine levels, a purported surrogate risk factor for cardiovascular disease, increased with age, were inversely proportional to folate and vitamin B12 levels (P < 0.001) and were higher for men of all ages.
