By now you know that excess homocysteine isn’t something you want in either your arteries or your brain. With the help of the right nutrients, homocysteine can be ‘detoxified’ and turned into one of the most important antioxidants of all, namely glutathione. Link to film here
Most ‘anti-ageing’ supplements contain either glutathione or its precursor n-acetyl-cysteine or NAC for short. You’ll also find them in the better homocysteine-modulating supplements. Glutathione, or NAC, are absolutely vital for immunity.
These are all what’s called sulphur-containing amino acids, found in onions, garlic and also eggs.
© Patrick Holford & Piatkus
You’ll notice that vitamin B6 is needed to transform homocysteine into the ‘good guy’ glutathione.
There’s another way homocysteine can get transformed, not shown here, which depends on the mineral zinc and trymethyl-glycine or TMG for short, which is another amino acid. You’ll find these two nutrients – zinc and TMG – in most homocysteine lowering formulas.
Seeds and nuts, beans and eggs, as well as fish and meat are excellent sources of zinc. TMG is found in root vegetables and also cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli. By now you’ll be eating lots of these, we hope. Knowing what you now know about glutathione, make sure you have an onion and a clove of garlic a day. Garlic not only helps to lower homocysteine it is good for the cardiovascular system in many ways.
