Dementia prevention a balancing act
Folate isn't important just for pregnant women. You need to get adequate amounts, too, if you hope to fend off dementia. And not just folate, but also its cousin B12, could be helpful in preventing the development of this dread brain disease.
A recent study found that a deficiency in folate could increase your possible risk of developing dementia by 3.5 times. That's significant, considering that vitamin deficiencies are one of those things that many doctors tend to overlook.
Having a vitamin B12 deficiency was also found to be associated with higher risk, though the finding for this particular study was weaker.
Over 500 participants, whose average age was 73, were enrolled in the study and followed for two years. They were tested for signs of dementia at the beginning, and none of the enrollees were found to have any.
Blood tests for each person revealed that almost 20 percent of them had high homocysteine levels, 17 percent had low vitamin B12 levels, and 3.5 percent were deficient in folate. High homocysteine levels that signal problems with folate are not only a flag risk for dementia, but also for heart disease and cancer.
By study's end, 45 of the enrollees developed dementia with 34 diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, seven had vascular dementia, and four were given an "other dementia" designation.
When a participant's baseline number showed higher folate and B12 levels, there was a direct correlation in having a lower level of homocysteine. But whatever their starting baseline was, it didn't seem to have an impact on whether or not they went on to develop dementia.
Instead, what the researchers found to be the crucial factor in whether they developed dementia was if those folate levels decreased, with a resulting increase in their homocysteine levels, during the follow-up period. They interpreted this as being a marker for the onset of the actual clinical syndrome of dementia, along with weight loss and a decrease in blood pressure.
You can't ignore good nutrition. The cost is just too high and wide-ranging, and your mind isn't something you want to sacrifice. If you are looking for ideas to get more folate in your diet, make a salad using spinach and romaine lettuce and add some broccoli to it—they're all rich in folate. Over-processing these greens can kill the very nutrient-value you're trying to ingest, so a salad is a very healthy choice—and good roughage.
For B12, an important nerve-protector, eat lean beef (preferably organic), salmon, tuna, or scallops—all of which are rich sources.
Often blood B12 levels may ring up normal but you can still be deficient. Make sure you also check a methylmalonic acid level (MMA), too. MMA levels build up when B12 is low, so a high MMA signals you don't have enough B12.
If you're going to take a folate supplement, make sure it includes at least 200 micrograms of B12, since treating folate alone can mask a B12 deficiency. When people require a supplement, they'll usually need 1 to 2 mg of folate plus 200 to 500 micrograms of B12 to get to correct their folate, B12 and homocysteine levels. Look for products that include the 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) version of folate. It's the only one that passes through the blood-brain barrier into the brain.
