We’ve all been there. What’s that phone number again? Where the heck are my car keys? His name is on the tip of my tongue!
Unless you are still a very young pup – you’ve probably been frustrated by those questions.

The fact of the matter is – brain function and memory decreases for most people as age increases. For some, it’s just a little problem remembering their grandkids’ names. For others, Alzheimer’s disease is the very sad end result.

How Does This Happen?
For many years it has been theorized that lack of mental stimulation can lead to decreased brain function and memory loss. So, increasing mental stimulation may have the opposite effect.

In an attempt to study this concept -- and hopefully find some answers -- Researchers at the University of California-Irvine studied hundreds of mice altered to make them develop abnormalities known as plaques and tangles in brain tissue that are considered hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease in people.

According to a recent study in the Journal of Neuroscience, they said periodic learning sessions -- swimming in a tub of water until finding a submerged platform to stand on -- slowed the development of those two abnormalities in the mice.

"The remarkable thing was that just by learning infrequently, they still had a very dramatic effect on the Alzheimer's disease pathology," said Kim Green, one of the researchers. "So it suggests that in humans, if you learn more and more and more, it's going to have a huge, beneficial effect," Green added. These findings are not completely new but help to confirm what other studies have also shown: Exercising your mind is important to preventing and maybe even fighting off the most common form of dementia among the elderly -- Alzheimer’s disease.

Just like a lack of mental stimulation – high levels of the amino acid homocysteine may contribute to cognitive function problems including memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.

High levels of folate and other B Vitamins such as B-6 and B-12 have been shown to lower the levels of Homocysteine… and, in turn… decreases the risk of mental decline. But the effects of supplementation with synthetic Folic acid were unknown… until now…

A study published in the January issue of The Lancet, researchers from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands conducted a three- year study on the effects of Folic acid supplementation.

Here’s the abstract:
• Researchers recruited more than 800 men and women over the age of 50 with elevated homocysteine levels
• Subjects were randomly assigned a daily supplement of 800 micrograms (MCG) of folic acid or a placebo
• Periodic tests evaluated memory, information processing speed, and sensorimotor speed
• Subjects who took folic acid increased blood levels of folate by more than 575 percent, and lowered homocysteine by more than 25
  percent, compared to the placebo group
• Memory, information processing speed, and sensorimotor speed were all significantly improved in the folic acid group, compared to the 
  placebo group

“In 818 older adults, daily oral folic acid supplementation for three years beneficially affected global cognitive function, and specifically memory, and information processing: functions that are sensitive to ageing,” wrote lead author Jane Durga.

The researchers from Wageningen University, Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, and University Hospital Maastricht, report: “Three-year folic acid supplementation confers an individual the performance of someone 4.7 years younger for memory, 1.7 years younger for sensorimotor speed, 2.1 years younger for information processing speed, and 1.5 years younger for global cognitive function.”
They also report that delayed recall for the folic acid supplemented group was similar to a performance of someone 6.9 years younger.
"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. [Our study was conducted] in older adults with raised total homocysteine concentrations,” said the researchers.

What about folic acid reducing the incidence of dementia? Durga said more research is needed.
And another study published in the January 2007 Archives of Neurology sheds even more light on the subject.
In this study, Columbia University researchers followed the dietary habits of 965 subjects over the age of 65 to assess Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk in relation to folate, B-6 and B-12 intake.

Researchers concluded: “Higher folate intake may decrease the risk of AD independent of other risk factors and levels of vitamins B-6 and B-12. These results require confirmation with clinical trials.” Basically, although more research is needed (when is it not?), it looks like it may be a good idea to eat foods rich in folate to possibly increase mental function and reduce risk of AD.

Good dietary sources of folate include spinach and other dark green vegetables, citrus fruits, broccoli, wheat germ, brewers yeast, lima beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, brown rice, peas, sprouts, poultry, shellfish, pork, and liver from organically raised animals.
 

And don’t forget, if you ever have any questions or concerns about your health, talk to us. Contact us with your questions. We’re here to help, and don’t enjoy anything more than participating in your lifelong good health.