Brain function, memory and the speed with which information is processed decline as people age, but researchers in the Netherlands and Switzerland have found that taking folic acid can help.
"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," said Dr Jane Durga of the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne.
POOR MENTAL PERFORMANCE
"The functions that decrease most commonly with age are those that we see a beneficial effect through folic acid supplementation," Durga said in an interview.
"It seems a bit intuitive, although it is not proven, that if you can slow down age-related cognitive decline, perhaps you can also affect the risk of dementia. But this is still a question that needs to be researched," she added.
Durga and scientists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, who reported their findings in The Lancet medical journal, compared the impact of folic acid supplements to a placebo in a study involving 818 men and women 50-70 years old.
Half of the volunteers were given 800 micrograms of folic acid each day for three years while the remainder received a dummy pill.
When the scientists tested the cognitive and memory functions at the end of the study, they found the three-year change was significantly better in the folic acid group.
Reason #2: Stopping Homocysteine before it kills you!
One of the most provocative medical books of the past decade is Kilmer and Martha Culley's The Heart Revolution. In it, Kilmer proposes that it is not cholesterol from eggs and animal fat that causes arteriosclerosis, it’s homocysteine, an enzyme that, if too abundant in the bloodstream , can destroy the elasticity of artery walls and thicken them, causing heart disease and strokes. These findings have been backed up by other research as well.
So what is a major culprit of such deadly homocysteine overabundance? Processed white flour. Processing may allow flour to last longer but robs it of up to 90 percent of its nutrients, including folic acid and B6, which keeps homocysteine levels in check. In other words, to help your heart health, ditch the white stuff!"
Source: Texas Monthly Feb07.
Editor's Note:
The problem with Folic acid, a critical part of the B vitamin complex, is it isn't easily absorbed. So what this B-Complex did was develop a unique folic acid coating over the surface of its B-Complex that makes folic acid much more accessible and bioavailable. You won't find this process anywhere else, as it is an exclusive patented technology.
We suggest you don't take a folic acid supplement by itself, because folic acid is part of the eight essential B Vitamins and they work best when they work together. This B-Complex gives you the right balance of all the B-vitamins including folic acid. In addition to this promising new study on folic acid supplementation improving memory and brain function, a complete B-Complex also promotes a healthy cardiovascular system, helps metabolize energy from carbohydrates, fat and protein and aids in the synthesis of DNA and new cells. Plus, it's also called the Happy Vitamin as it can help with stress. We've seen more than one person take several B-Complex vitamins when getting up to do something nerve-racking like public speaking!
