Veggie s heartaches
think your heart is safe if you are a vegetarian, young at heart and have a hole in your pocket? No, say researchers from New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences. They have discovered that irrespective of socio-economic background and age, vegetarians are falling prey to heart ailments as a result of vitamin b12 and folic acid deficiency. The researchers found that most vegetarians have high levels of homocysteine (hcy), an amino acid identified as a risk factor for heart diseases.
During their study, the researchers examined 46 people from slum areas and 26 from other localities. Their analysis indicated that 84 per cent residents of both slum areas and other localities had high hcy levels. The elevated levels were attributed to the deficiency of folic acid and vitamin b12