Homocysteine
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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 [show legend] |
|---|---|
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Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials |
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Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled |
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Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies |
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Uncontrolled or observational studies only |
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Level of Evidence
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The amount of high quality evidence. The more
evidence, the more we can trust the results.
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Outcome |
Magnitude of effect
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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.
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Consistency of research results
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Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or
VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
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Notes |
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Strong
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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.
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Notable
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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).
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Minor
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- See study |
Somewhat high acute spike of homocysteine, which is normally a negative thing. Practical significance of this unknown
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