Steps you can take to help keep your brain sharp

Remember the Way to Memory Lane

Want to keep your memory intact?

Most of us won’t need to spend much time mulling over that question before replying with a resounding “Yes!”

Today we’ll look at two simple and effective steps you can take to help keep your brain sharp, no matter how many candles you’ve got burning on the birthday cake.

The persistence of memory

I the e-Alert “This Way to Memory Lane” (8/9/05), I told you about Jane Durga, a nutritionist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. As part of her Ph.D. research on the effects of folic acid (synthetic folate) among the elderly, she lead an intervention study that resulted in very promising conclusions about the way folic acid supplements may play an important role in preserving memory.

Now a new study from the University of Oxford in the UK examines this same topic in a way that highlights the probable link between high homocysteine and impaired memory.

When homocysteine makes an appearance in the e-Alert, it’s usually in the context of cardiovascular health. Homocysteine is an amino acid that contributes to the buildup of plaque on blood vessel walls. Folate and other B vitamins have been shown to lower elevated homocysteine levels.

The Oxford researchers examined how episodic memory in older subjects might be affected by homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12. In the early 90s, blood samples were taken from more than 2,100 subjects over the age of 65. Samples were taken again six years later. At that time, subjects also took memory performance tests.

The results, published last month in the Annals of Neurology:
Subjects who tested poorly generally had higher homocysteine and lower folate levels than subjects who had no memory deficit
Higher test scores were associated with a folate increase or a decline in homocysteine over the six-year interval before follow up.

Two step shuffle

Maintaining healthy memory – Step One: Ask your doctor to check your homocysteine levels when you have a blood test. Most doctors recommend keeping levels below 12 micromoles per liter. (Note that homocysteine levels can be affected by either diet or genetics.)

Maintaining healthy memory – Step Two:Make sure your folate (or folic acid) intake is adequate.

Here are some general folate guidelines, culled from previous e-Alerts

• According to Jonathan V. Wright M.D., folate (along with vitamin B12 and zinc) is key to DNA reproduction and repair
• Dr. Wright also notes that folate deficiency is quite common
• The best dietary sources of folate include spinach and other dark green vegetables, brewers yeast, lima beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, wheat germ and liver from organically raised animals
• The daily recommended intake of folate is 400 mcg
• HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., recommends folate supplements of 1.6 mg (1,600 mcg) per day, and as much as 5 mg for those who need to address cardiovascular problems
• A high intake of folate can mask a vitamin B-12 deficiency in older people, but a B-12 deficiency can be easily avoided by eating plenty of meat, fish and eggs, or by taking B-12 supplements (Dr. Spreen recommends 1mg (1,000 mcg) of B12 per day in sublingual form)
• To get the most out of folate, Dr. Spreen also recommends 100 mg per day of B6, and 400-500 mg of magnesium per day (to make the B6 more effective)

Talk to your doctor or a health care professional before starting any new supplement regimen.

At some point this year, researchers with the National Institutes of Health are expected to release the results of a new study that examines the effect of high doses of folic acid and other B vitamins on cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients. I’ll be on the lookout for that and will report to you as soon as the study is published.

Source:
“Plasma Total Homocysteine and Memory in the Elderly: The Hordaland Homocysteine Study” Annals of Neurology, Vol. 58, No. 6, December 2005, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov