Whether moderately high blood concentrations of homocysteine warn of an elevated risk of CVD has not been determined. In cases of genetic hyperhomocysteinemia, very high intakes of these vitamins may decrease blood concentrations of homocysteine and decrease CVD risk. This, however, does not entail that decreasing moderately high homocysteine concentrations will decrease CVD risk. Several studies have focused on the relationship between blood homocysteine concentrations and CVD risk. Investigators have found that the blood homocysteine concentrations of patients who had a heart attack or stroke exceeded those of healthy controls.
Enzymes are proteins that initiate specific chemical reactions or affect their speed.
The study's duration, however, did not enable determining whether decreases in the risk of death from CAD ensued. Investiga-tors have found that the blood homocysteine concentrations of patients who had a heart attack or stroke exceeded those of healthy controls. They did not, however, find any significant association between such incidence and blood concentrations of folate or vitamin B 12 . Moreover, while the research-ers did find a significant association between blood homocysteine concentrations and CHD incidence, they did so only in the female subjects. In one small intervention study whose subjects were healthy young women, researchers demonstrated that folate supplementation can lower plasma homocysteine concentrations.