In 1969, McCully first proposed that homocysteine causes atherosclerosis.1His hypothesis was based on the finding of atherosclerotic plaqueat autopsies of young people with homocystinuria. This hypothesiswas later modified to include a broader population, positingthat mild hyperhomocysteinemia caused by dietary deficienciesof the vitamin cofactors required for the metabolism of homocysteine— folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 — is arisk factor for atherothrombosis. In developed countries, thesevitamins are partially removed from foods during processing,2and typical diets are rich in the precursor amino acid methionine(which is derived from animal proteins). These . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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From Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School — both in Boston.
This article was published at www.nejm.org on March 12, 2006.
Related Letters:
Homocysteine, B Vitamins, and Cardiovascular Disease
de Craen A. J.M., Stott D. J., Westendorp R. G.J., Khare A., Lopez M., Gogtay J., Quinlivan E. P., Gregory J. F. III, Refsum H., Smith A. D., Wang X., Demirtas H., Xu X., Tomlinson D. R., Lang D., Lewis M. J., Lonn E., the HOPE-2 Investigators , Bønaa K. H., Tverdal A., Ueland P. M.
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N Engl J Med 2006;
355:205-211, Jul 13, 2006.
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