Study Shows High Folate Levels Associated With Improved Cognition in Older Adults

A new study in the British Journal of Nutrition led by researchers from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA) disputes assertions that having high blood levels of folate elevates the risk of poor cognition in older adults, especially in those with low vitamin B12 levels, reports News-Medical . Although folic acid fortification is known to reduce neural tube defects in newborns, leading U.S. publications suggest that very high concentrations in older persons, plus low vitamin B12, leads to poorer brain function and accelerated cognitive decline. "Our study shows that a small percentage of older people in the community have this potentially adverse combination, but they are not at increased risk of poorer cognition," said Trinity College Dublin Professor Anne Molloy. The TILDA researchers found that cognitive performance was not worse in older people with low vitamin B12 combined with high folate. Moreover, subjects with normal vitamin B12 levels and high folate levels exhibited better cognitive performance than those with normal folate levels. Use of folate-containing supplements was low, with more men than women taking them, but with less than 4 percent taking the supplements overall.