The American journal of clinical nutrition
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Changes in basal and postmethionine load concentrations of total homocysteine and cystathionine after B vitamin intervention.
Vitamin B-6 is necessary for the metabolism of homocysteine and is often used in combination with folic acid and vitamin B-12 in clinical trials that investigate whether the lowering of plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) can prevent vascular disease. ⋯ The folic acid and vitamin B-12 combination applied in WENBIT provides rapid, substantial, and long-term tHcy-lowering effects, whereas the effect of vitamin B-6 on tHcy was relatively small and confined to PML tHcy. However, vitamin B-6 treatment caused a marked reduction in plasma cystathionine. Cystathionine could be a useful marker for assessment of the vitamin B-6 effect and should, together with tHcy, be related to clinical outcome in ongoing trials.