Lately, scientists have focused on a new villain in our blood, homocysteine, and are proposing that we keep it at healthy levels by passing up animal protein and getting more of the B vitamins. Chastened, perhaps, by the recent finding that a high-fiber diet does not in fact protect against colon cancer, researchers are less emphatic than they might once have been in calling for dietary changes to keep homocysteine down. What they do know is that high levels of this amino acid, a product in the bodys breakdown of protein, are associated with arterial disease. In addition, homocysteine has been linked to miscarriages, Alzheimers disease, strokes, and osteoporosis. The last two items on the list show that dispensing with animal proteins altogether is tricky, especially since vitamin B12 is found only in liver and other meats, fish, eggs, and milk.
Vitamin supplements are an alternative.
Not to be forgotten is the meditation factor. A study at Ohio State University shows that stress can raise homocysteine levels. Now if only someone would invent an egg with a low cholesterol content. Or so says sex therapist Anne Hooper, and she insists it has nothing to do with age, shape or size. Hooper, author of The.Great.