Vitamin B may modestly boost memory: Study
(REUTERS) - Older adults who took vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements for two years had greater improvements on short- and long-term memory tests than adults who did not take the vitamins, according to an Australian study.
The benefits were modest but encouraging, said author Janine Walker, a researcher at Australian National University, of the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
'(Vitamins) may have an important role in promoting healthy ageing and mental well-being, as well as sustaining good cognitive functioning for longer on a community-wide scale,'said Dr Walker in an e-mail to Reuters Health.
The researchers asked more than 700 people aged 60 to 74 years to take a daily dose of folic acid and vitamin B12, or placebo pills that resembled the vitamins. The vitamin dose included 400 microgrammes of folic acid and 100 microgrammes of vitamin B12, and participants didn't know which they were assigned to take.
(REUTERS) - Older adults who took vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements for two years had greater improvements on short- and long-term memory tests than adults who did not take the vitamins, according to an Australian study.
The benefits were modest but encouraging, said author Janine Walker, a researcher at Australian National University, of the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
'(Vitamins) may have an important role in promoting healthy ageing and mental well-being, as well as sustaining good cognitive functioning for longer on a community-wide scale,'said Dr Walker in an e-mail to Reuters Health.
The researchers asked more than 700 people aged 60 to 74 years to take a daily dose of folic acid and vitamin B12, or placebo pills that resembled the vitamins. The vitamin dose included 400 microgrammes of folic acid and 100 microgrammes of vitamin B12, and participants didn't know which they were assigned to take.