Homocysteine, a predictor of COVID-19 outcome?
Have you ever checked yours? Are you a “clotter”?
Recent research released by Zongguo Yang, who is affiliated with the Department of Integrative Medicine at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, along with his colleagues from the Department of Neurology, sheds light on this subject [see Predictors For Imaging Progression On Chest CT From Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients on the NIH website].
Recent events regarding COVID-19 have shown that many patients are at risk for major clotting events once the virus sets in. I was intrigued by this as clotting assessment has been a primary focus of our medical clinic for the last 38 years and in particular Homocysteine has been a major focus of our work. In fact Homocysteine is so significant to us it led to the Ola Loa formula which not only provides Vitamin B12, B6 and Folate but Betaine (TRI Methyl Glycine) which will lower Homocysteine toxicity even when B12 and Folate fail. Naturally I was intrigued when I saw this article.
The researchers found that Homocysteine levels were significantly higher in those patients showing imaging progression. The group looked at a number of parameters including age, MLR (monocyte-lymphocyte ratio) and Homocysteine which were significantly correlated with imaging progression on chest CT from the virus. In their study they found that the optimal cutoff of Homocysteine for predicting imaging progression on chest CT from COVID-19 patients was 10.58 μmol/L.
Certainly as many of you have heard me say, “identifying your clotting risk factors is essential to maintaining your health.” As a routine we check all of our patients for Homocysteine, Fibrinogen, Lipoprotein(a), Factors 2 & 5 and Small Dense LDL. Clearly Homocysteine, which is essential yet potentially toxic can lead to a variety of issues being that it is a potent toxic agent that can lead to oxidative stress, neurotoxicity promotion, endothelial dysfunction and acceleration of the atherosclerotic process. Simply put, Homocysteine can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and fatty liver disease. Research has shown that elevated homocysteine has been associated with many virus infections including HIV, hepatitis, and human papilloma virus. And now with this recent research elevated Homocysteine was found to be a predictive value for imaging progression with COVID-19.
To learn more about Homocysteine: www.olaloa.com/resources/articles-on-nutrition/188-homocysteine-the-key-to-heart-attack-stroke-a-cancer
