It's time again for the Older Parent Blog to feature one of my favorite topics for fun fodder: science that addresses geezers.

We'll start off with a study on nutrients that may influence cognition in the 'more mature'.

It's looking like folate and vitamin B12 may work together to keep older people thinking clearly.

Using data collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2002, Morris and colleagues found that people with normal vitamin B12 status and high serum folate, which is a measure of folate in the blood, had higher scores on a test of cognitive function. Blood tests were used to determine folate and vitamin B12 levels, and the cognitive function test assessed aptitudes such as response speed, sustained attention, visual spatial skills, associative learning, and memory.

Good levels of both also combat anemia, hypertension, certain cancers, hip fractures, and Parklnson's Disease, so munch down on the meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy that contain the B12, and the leafy greens, citrus fruits and beans that give folate.

This isn't the only study on folates, as this one suggests that people who take in high levels of folate through both diet and supplements may have a reduced risk of Alzheimer's.

And statin drugs, those given for reducing cholesterol levels (I take these by the handful daily), may also be helpful in keeping Alzheimer's at bay.

The study found that taking statins was associated with a 79-percent reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to the study's lead author, neurologist and epidemiologist Robert C. Green, MD, MPH, of Boston University School of Medicine.
"This study confirms and extends previous reports and is the largest study on this topic in the U.S.," Green said. "It is also the first to include a large number of African-American families."

Don't forget to keep the brain in shape with regular thinking bouts and exercises in learning, as well as eating well and taking supplements.

Continued ...