High homocysteine bad for the bones

The Archives of Internal Medicine, January 9, 2006, published the results of a study showing that homocysteine is bad for the bones. The study found that women who have high levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood are at increased risk for low bone mineral density (BMD). The European investigators reported:

"Our finding adds to the increasing evidence that avoiding homocysteine is important for good bone health," lead author Dr. Clara Gram Gjesdal from the University of Bergen in Norway told Reuters Health.

Women with high homocysteine levels were nearly two times more likely to have low BMD compared with women with low homocysteine levels.

It is interesting to note that skim and low fat milk have higher amounts of non-digestible protein and lactose, and lower amounts of folic acid and vitamin B, a particularly harmful combination of factors.

According to Dr. William Grant, a Nasa Research Scientist, this combination promotes a build-up of homocysteine, a promoter of heart disease, stroke, and dementia. This view is reinforced by many studies, including a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal (January 2005) which says that a quarter of all heart attacks could be caused by high levels of homocysteine. This can explain why even some people who are apparently healthy, slim, and non-smoking, get heart attacks – they have high homocysteine levels. This subject is examined in greater detail in The Milk Imperative, available as a paperback or as an ebook which you can download now by going to http://www.milkimperative.com/.