A randomized, placebo-controlled trial has shown daily folic acid significantly improves cognitive performance in older adults — specifically as it relates to memory and information processing.
The study, which included 818 subjects aged 50 to 70 years who were folate deficient, showed that those who took 800 µg daily of oral folic acid for 3 years had significantly better memory and information processing speed than subjects in the placebo group.
Furthermore, serum folate concentrations increased by 576% and plasma total homocysteine concentrations decreased by 26% in participants taking folic acid compared with those taking placebo.
"We have shown that 3-year folic acid supplementation improves performance on tests that measure information-processing speed and memory, domains that are known to decline with age, in older adults with raised total homocysteine concentrations," the authors write.
Led by Jane Durga, PhD, of the Wageningen University, the Netherlands, the study is published in the January 20 issue of The Lancet.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/550999_print
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