NEWS: Food, Not Pills, Best Defense For

[Guest guest]

ot Pills, Best Defense For Heart<br><br>By Maggie

Fox, Health and Science Correspondent<br><br>DALLAS

(Reuters) - Fresh fruits and vegetables, rather than

vitamin supplements, are the best line of defense against

a new<br>indicator of heart disease, doctors said

Tuesday.<br><br>High levels of the marker homocysteine seem to be

linked with the risk of heart disease, and three

vitamins -- folic acid, B-6<br>and B-12 -- may lower

homocysteine levels.<br><br>But the American Heart Association

says it is too soon to start telling people to take

vitamin supplements to reduce this<br>particular

risk.<br><br>Dr. Ronald Krauss of the Lawrence Berkeley National

Laboratory in Berkeley, California and colleagues on the

AHA's<br>nutrition committee studied results from several trials

that looked at the links between homocysteine and

heart disease.<br><br>He said only six out of 11 trials

showed a clear association between levels of

homocysteine and heart disease.<br><br>``Until there is proof,

rather than emphasizing supplements, we should recommend

an increased intake of vegetables,

fruits,<br>legumes and fortified grains,'' Krauss told a news

conference.<br><br>Such foods are high in B-vitamins and especially in

folic acid, which can also reduce the risk of birth

defects when pregnant<br>women get enough.<br><br>The AHA

already recommends eating at least five servings a day of

these foods because they also reduce the risk of high

blood<br>pressure and of heart disease overall.<br><br>``By

following our guidelines it is certainly possible to meet

these recommendations,'' Krauss said.<br><br>Krauss and

colleagues noted that a blood test for homocysteine is

expensive -- between $50 and $100 -- so at this point

there<br>would be no justification in telling doctors to

routinely test patients for the compound.<br><br>But Krauss

also noted that some studies do indicate that

homocysteine is an independent risk factor. That means that

even if a<br>person has normal blood pressure,

cholesterol and is not overweight, high homocysteine levels

may still point to an increased<br>risk of heart

disease.<br><br>Homocysteine is a product of the metabolism of protein, but

levels do not seem to be linked to overall protein in

the diet. B<br>vitamins affect it because they help

break down homocysteine, Krauss said.<br><br>Scientists

are still not sure if it is the homocysteine that

causes some negative effect on the body, or if it is

just a marker -- a<br>signal that something else is

wrong.<br><br>``This is entering into a whole new domain of

non-traditional markers for heart disease,'' Dr. Robert Eckel of

the University of<br>Colorado Health Sciences Center

and chairman of the nutrition committee

said.<br><br>Several researchers told the AHA meeting in Dallas about

the latest studies on homocysteine.<br><br>Dr. Paul

Ridker of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston

measured homocysteine in 40,000 healthy women and

then<br>waited to see who developed heart

disease.<br><br>``Women who went on to have first-ever cardiovascular

events did have higher baseline levels of homocysteine

than women<br>who didn't,'' he said.<br><br>Women

whose levels were in the 90th percentile -- 90 percent

of women had lower levels than they did -- had twice

the risk of<br>heart disease than women with the

lowest levels.<br><br>And Dr. Winifried Willinek of

Medical University Policlinic in Bonn, Germany measured

the carotid arteries of people. Thicker<br>carotid

arteries -- these are arteries in the neck -- are linked

with heart disease risk.<br><br>``The higher the

levels of homocysteine, the thicker the carotid

artery,'' he said. People who were overweight, who had

high<br>blood pressure or high cholesterol also had thicker

carotid arteries but high homocysteine was an independent

factor, he said.