High homocysteine can be detected by blood tests, which might make it sound as though it should be checked for as routinely as high blood cholesterol. Despite the inroads scientists have made concerning homocysteine's effect on heart disease, relatively little is still known about the connection, so testing for everyone would be premature at this time. It has not been proven, for instance, that lowering homocysteine levels in the blood automatically reduces heart attack risk. Despite the caveats, testing makes sense for people who already have heart disease or a strong family history of premature heart disease, says Paul Jacques, ScD, acting Chief of epidemiology at the Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts. Learning one's homocysteine level and lowering it if it's high is a way for someone at high risk to hedge his or her bets before all the facts are in.
Researchers differ on exactly what constitutes optimal and high levels of homocysteine.
Others consider a reading over 12 to be high. But it's safe to say that levels over 16 would be classified as high. The good news is that in most cases, elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood can be reduced with folate and vitamins B 6 and B 12 . Thus, recommendations differ. People without heart disease should also aim for 400 micrograms of folate.