Vitamin deficiency dementia link
Updated on 05 February 2008
Older people who lack a key B vitamin could have triple the chance of developing dementia, experts have said.
Folate is also known as vitamin B9 and is found in a variety of foods, including leafy green vegetables, dried beans and peas and is sometimes added to products like bread or breakfast cereals in the form of folic acid.
The study, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, has discovered a higher risk of dementia among those lacking folate.
Researchers tracked the development of dementia in 518 people over 2.4 years from 2001 to 2003.
All participants were over the age of 65 and lived in one rural and one urban area in the south of Korea.
Tests were taken to assess levels of folate, vitamin B12, and the protein homocysteine.
By the end of the study, 45 people had developed dementia. Of these, 34 had Alzheimer's disease, seven had vascular dementia, and four had other types of dementia.
Dementia was more likely in those who were older, relatively poorly educated, physically inactive, and had deposits of the protein ApoE, which has been linked to dementia.
The onset of dementia was significantly more likely in those whose folate levels fell further over the two years, while their homocysteine levels rose.
People who were folate deficient to begin with were almost 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia.
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