The 2nd Horsemen: Homocysteine & B Vitamins

There are four horsemen of the mental health apocalypse. Number one, brain fats number two, homocysteine and B vitamins. If I was to tell you that there was one single blood test that actually predicts your risk of over 100 diseases, that is incredibly easy to then change. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about homocysteine, over 30,000 studies on it and it your level of homocysteine, if above 10, it means your brain is shrinking. It predicts almost every brain, a neurological disease from A DHD to autism, from Parkinson’s to multiple sclerosis, from dementia to depression. But also, if your homocysteine is raised, you have an increased risk of heart disease and a 17 times increased risk for stroke. What is this thing called homocysteine to really understand? Watch this film. Your brain has a hundred billion brain cells called neurons, making a hundred trillion connections between them communicating to each other with chemicals called neurotransmitters. Brain cell membranes are made from both phospholipids, which are abundant in eggs, which attach to the Omega-3 fat DHA abundant in oily fish. To make a brain cell membrane, they have to be bound together by a process called methylation. Methylation depends on B vitamins. If you lack B12 rich in animal foods or B six or folate found in whole foods and greens, your blood homocysteine level rises. Your homocysteine level predicts the rate of brain shrinkage as you age. Lowering homocysteine with B vitamins cut shrinkage by over 70% in those with enough Omega-3. That’s how you keep your brain healthy. Take the cognitive function test to identify your risk. Join cognition to protect your brain. Only 1% of Alzheimer’s is in the genes. You can dementia proof your diet and lifestyle at food for the brain. We show you how one step at a time. So now you understand that your brain cell is made of Omega-3, which is like, like the timber bound to phospholipids, which are like the nail. And the hammer that puts it all together are the B vitamins that lower your homocysteine level. And uh, in a study of my colleagues at Oxford, when they gave the B vitamins versus placebo in one year, they saw nine times less shrinkage of the Alzheimer’s areas of the brain. So we know that when you have enough of these B vitamins, which you really need to supplement, then you can cut your risk of Alzheimer’s dramatically. For example, the US National Institute of Health attributes 22%, almost a quarter of your risk of four Alzheimer’s to a raised homocysteine, lack of B vitamins and 22% to a lack of seafood. And Omega-3. And here’s an amazing thing, the group of scientists at Oxford who gave the BE vitamins and saw that nine times shrinkage in the brain, they didn’t give Omega-3. And when they went back and looked at the blood samples of the people in the study and split them into the third with the lowest Omega-3 versus the third with the highest, the ones with lower Omega-3 had no benefit from the BE vitamins. But the ones with the high Omega-3 had a massive reduction in brain shrinkage that actually brought the brain shrinkage down to the level you see in normal, healthy, older people who do not develop this preventable disease. In other words, just like the film shows, you have to have both enough Omega-3 eating seafood supplementing, and also enough be vitamins. Now, folate is rich in foliage, it’s rich in greens. When you supplement it, you want the methyl folate form the activated folate form B sixes and whole foods. But B12 is the tricky one because a lot of people when they get older, they start to absorb it much less well and you have no way of really knowing. To give you an example, once that homocysteine level is above 11, your brain is shrinking. And in the US in people over 65, 60% have homocysteine above 11 in the brain shrinking zone. So it’s something you want to test, which is very, very easy to do. And then if your score is high, you need more of these B vitamins, not just the basic RDA for B12, which is 2.5 micrograms. We supplement 500 micrograms. It’s very inexpensive, completely safe, but it brings down your homocysteine and with that, your memory improves. And that is why the second horseman of the mental health apocalypse is all about B vitamins and homocysteine. Bring your level below 10 and everything is good. However, it’s not just about dementia. In a study on healthy women who became pregnant, those with the homocysteine above nine, at the age of six, their children were more socially withdrawn, had more depression, more anxiety, and more aggression. That’s amazing at the age of six. So what we’re learning, and by the way, that is why pregnant women are advised to have folic acid or folate to bring the homocysteine down. The optimal level of homocysteine for overall health is probably seven, but above 11, your brain is shrinking, but you can do something about it and just a few weeks, those B vitamins bring your homocysteine right back down. That’s the second Usman of the mental health apocalypse.