Folic acid 'good for elderly brains'
| Published: 22nd February 2007 20:18 |
Folic acid 'good for elderly brains'
For those beginning to feel thier age, a supplement of folic acid could be just what the doctor ordered.
A study published in the medical journal The Lancet found that taking 800 micrograms of folic acid each day could give people in the 50 to 70 age group the brains of someone five years younger!
Researchers at the Dutch University of Wageningen monitored the brain capacity of 818 volunteers on either folic acid supplements or placebos for a period of three years.
It was found that people on the folic acid had better memories and were better at processing information.
The researchers wrote: "We have shown that three-year folic acid supplementation improves performance on tests that measure information processing speed and memory, domains that are known to decline with age."
Folic acid helps the body to produce new cells which could explain the beneficial effects on the brain.
If you are taking supplements, you should be careful to get enough B12, which is found in eggs and meat.
Taking folic acid can hide any deficiency in vitamin B12 and if you aren't getting enough B12, you could develop anaemia and nerve damage.
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