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Homocysteine

Homocysteine is a biomarker of cardiovascular disease, and it is thought that higher circulating levels of homocysteine are indicative of a higher risk for cardiovascular incidents.

Kamal Patel
Research analysis led by Kamal Patel.
All content reviewed by the Examine.com Team. Published:
Last Updated:

Human Effect Matrix

The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect homocysteine
Grade Level of Evidence
Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
Uncontrolled or observational studies only
Level of Evidence
? The amount of high quality evidence. The more evidence, the more we can trust the results.
Outcome Magnitude of effect
? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
Consistency of research results
? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
Notes
grade-b Trimethylglycine Strong Very High See all 9 studies
Betaine (3g or more) appears to potently and reliable reduce homocysteine concentrations following a single dose and maintaining this reduction for as long as supplementation is continued. The magnitude is around 10% in persons with normal homocysteine levels, and greater (20-40%) in those with high homocysteine, and (unlike folate) works in instances of methionine loading tests. 500mg betaine can reduce homocysteine after a methionine load, but it too low to influence fasting homocysteine.
grade-b Vitamin B2 Notable Moderate See all 5 studies
Homocysteine appears to be reduced to a large degree at 1.6mg, but this effect is exclusive to subjects with a specific genetic mutation known as MTHFR 677TT (two copies of MTHFR 677C->T).
grade-c Chlorogenic Acid Minor - See study
Somewhat high acute spike of homocysteine, which is normally a negative thing. Practical significance of this unknown
grade-c Creatine  
grade-c Fish Oil  
grade-c Green Coffee Extract  
grade-c Cocoa Extract  
grade-c Garlic  
grade-c Hesperidin  
grade-c Red Clover Extract  
grade-c S-Adenosyl Methionine  
grade-c Vitamin B12  
grade-c Vitamin E  

All comparative evidence is now gathered in our ​A-to-Z Supplement Reference.

The evidence for each separate supplement is still freely available ​here.

This page is regularly updated, to include the most recently available clinical trial evidence.

Each member of our research team is required to have no conflicts of interest, including with supplement manufacturers, food companies, and industry funders. The team includes nutrition researchers, registered dietitians, physicians, and pharmacists. We have a strict editorial process.

This page features 0 references. All factual claims are followed by specifically-applicable references. Click here to see the full set of references for this page.

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