In a sample of 1,092 men and women without dementia followed for an average of 10 years, those with
higher plasma homocysteine levels at baseline had a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.
However, when methionine - rich diets are used to induce hyperhomocysteinemia... Mice fed methionine - rich diets had significant atheromatous pathology in the aortic arch even with
normal plasma homocysteine levels, whereas mice fed B vitamin - deficient diets developed severe hyperhomocysteinemia without any increase in vascular pathology.
Low serum levels of certain B vitamins (folate and vitamins B12 and B6) have been associated with
elevated plasma homocysteine levels in several studies and with an increased risk of dementia in a few investigations.38 - 42 In our study, the observed association between plasma homocysteine and risk of dementia was not significantly altered by adjustment for the plasma levels of these vitamins (Table 3).
+ / + - Homozygotes for this variant allele in the CTH gene had significantly
higher plasma homocysteine levels than other genotypes in a cohort of 496 Caucasian individuals.
RESULTS:
Plasma homocysteine levels were not affected by diet.