Folate protects against cognitive decline in adults
The study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that folate has an effect that goes beyond its impact on homocysteine, a blood marker of cardiovascular disease risk associated with lower cognitive test scores. Folate supplementation can reduce blood levels of homocysteine, but the current study found that the effects of folate were independent of its impact on homocysteine, which proved to be more strongly associated with memory tests. Tucker and her colleagues found that men who obtained more folate in their diets showed significantly less of a decline in verbal fluency skills over the course of three years than did men with lower dietary folate intake.
High folate levels, both in the diet and in the blood, also appeared to be protective against declines in another category of cognitive skills known as spatial copying. To test this, the 50- to 85-year-old study participants were asked to copy various shapes and figures, and their drawings were assessed for accuracy. "The men took a series of cognitive tests at the beginning of the study period and then repeated those tests three years later," explained Tucker. "We compared their first and second scores, reviewed their responses to dietary questionnaires, and took blood samples in order to see if nutrient levels in the diet and the blood were related to changes in cognitive performance..."
"Unlike our prior work with this population, in which we observed an association between low folate levels and lower cognitive test scores at one point in time, this study looks at the effects of these nutrients over time." Tucker says, "That is an important step in establishing causality."
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