Physical training decreases total plasma homocysteine and cysteine in middle-aged subjects

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether endurance exercise in middle-aged men induces changes in plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and total cysteine (tCys), and whether these changes depend on the diet especially on vitamin B-6, folic acid and vitamin B-12 intakes. Methods: Twelve trained subjects (52.33 +/- 2.4 years) and twelve untrained subjects (56.23 +/- 0.9 years) volunteered for the present study. tHcy and tCys were measured with high-pressure liquid chromatography at rest in both groups and during an incremental exercise performed on a cycle ergometer until exhaustion in the trained subjects. Results: At baseline homocysteinemia and cysteinemia were lower in trained subjects (7.48 +/- 0.4 and 183.45 +/- 13.6 mu mol/l) compared with untrained subjects (9.79 +/- 0.4 mu mol/ l, p < 0.001; 229.01 +/- 14.7 mu mol/ l, p < 0.05, respectively). Incremental exercise also induced a decrease in tHcy and tCys concentrations. Moreover, tHcy concentration was negatively related to the folic acid and B-12 intakes in untrained ( r = - 0.589, p < 0.05; r = - 0.580, p < 0.05, respectively) as well as in trained groups ( r = - 0.709, p < 0.01; r = - 0.731, p < 0.01, respectively) whereas no correlation between tCys and vitamin in the diet was observed. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the combined effects of a chronic physical exercise and a high folate and vitamin B-12 intake could be responsible for the reduction of plasma tHcy and tCys concentrations that might be a key for the prevention of many diseases. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.