Higher Folate Levels May Lower Alzheimer's Risk: Study
(HealthDay News, 1/9/07)

For about six years, a team of scientists at Columbia University Medical Center in New York followed 965 senior adults, none of whom had dementia at the outset of the study. The researchers found a connection between higher folate intake from both diet and supplements and a reduced risk of Alzheimer's. Separately, neither dietary intake nor supplementing with folate demonstrated a benefit; but the two in combination seemed to protect against the condition. The scientists speculate that the beneficial effect may be due to the folate causing a reduction in the blood levels of the amino acid, homocysteine.

(Archives of Neurology, January 2007)