The relationship betweeen food habits and hyperhomocysteinemia in elderly people / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To discuss the relationship between food habits and hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), and provide dietary intervention basis for the aged in prevention and cure of HHcy. Methods Participants coming from the cohort of the Beijing Longitudinal Study of Aging in 2009, were asked to complete a food habits questionnaire and underwent laboratory examinations, including total homocysteine and blood biochemical item. According to effects of food on metabolism of Hcy, the commonly used foods were divided into three kinds (1)Rich in VitB12 or folic acid or betainechicken or duck egg, pork or beef or lamb, bean products and vegetables.(2)Rich in VitB6 fish or shrimp, milk and chicken or duck. (3)Rich in antioxidant fresh fruit, tea and coffee. According to the intake of frequency, each food was divided into"often eat"and"not often eat"or"not eating". HHcy was defined as>15μmol/L, Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the association between dietary intake and HHcy, after adjusting confounding factors. Results The prevalence of HHcy was 61.9%(902/1458);accordi ng to the results, for the patients who do not often eat or not eat food rich in VitB12 or folic acid or betaine (chicken or duck egg, bean products and pork or beef or lamb) and VitB6 (fish or shrimp and milk), the risk of HHcy was significantly increased. After adjusting for multiple factors, the risk was still significantly increased, P<0.05. Conclusions Not often eating chicken or duck egg(less than once a day), bean products(less than once a week), fish or shrimp(less than twice a month) and not eating pork or beef or lamb or milk, were independtly associated with the increasing risk of HHcy in elderly people.