Homocysteine is an amino acid naturally found throughout the body. It is a product from the metabolism of another amino acid called methionine.
This metabolism requires B-vitamins B12, folic acid and B6 to function properly, making homocysteine an important biomarker to evaluate the levels of these vitamins.
Normal levels of homocysteine indicate that you don’t suffer from a significant deficiency in B-vitamins nor folate and the lower your homocysteine levels are, the lower the risk for developing cardiocascular diseas and neurodegenerative disease.
When it comes to performance and training, it has been discovered that exercise can increase homocysteine levels, regardless of duration and intensity. One theory behind this is that protein metabolism significantly increases during exercise, which also implies an increased need for vitamin B12 and folic acid. If there is not enough of these circulating during exercise, it will lead to an increase in homocysteine.
Simultaneously, what has been observed to lower the levels again is strength training, but not cardiovascular training. Therefore, practically, homocysteine could possibly be used as one of several biomarkers to evaluate the balance in training programs and assess risks in cases of suspected overtraining.
Homocysteine is an amino acid naturally found throughout the body. It is a product from the metabolism of another amino acid called methionine. This metabolism requires B-vitamins and folate to function properly, making homocysteine an important biomarker to evaluate the levels of these vitamins. Homocycteine is then converted into cysteine, one of the 20 amino acids that our bodies use as building blocks when creating proteins.
Low homocysteine levels are most often considered to be within the normal range and do not cause a need for concern. On the contrary, slightly lower levels of homocysteine may indicate a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Important note: If you show very low homocysteine levels, this may be due to vitamin deficiency or affected enzymes involved in the homocysteine metabolism.