Folic acid and cognitive impairment
Folic acid is a nutrient generally thought to be good for brain health and better thinking, but new research indicates that too much folic acid in people who are deficient in vitamin B-12 can cause just the opposite.
Researchers at Tufts University in Boston using data from the two most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that had measured cognitive status, anemia, and vitamin B-12 and folate levels found that subjects (aged 60 and older) who had the highest levels of folate were protected against cognitive impairment, but those with low levels of vitamin B-12 and high levels of folate were 2.6 times more likely to show signs of cognitive impairment. And, surprisingly, anemia was 3.1 times greater in the low B-12, high folate group. The results of this study were published in the January American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).
How did these subjects who had low vitamin B-12 levels and high folate levels end up with so much folate? In large part, thanks to the efforts of our government.
Over the years there have been a handful of studies showing that pregnant women who take folic acid early in their pregnancies markedly decrease the risk that their babies will be born with a neural tube defect (NTD). Several years back homocysteine was fingered as a risk factor for heart disease; folic acid, along with vitamin B-12 drives blood levels of homocysteine lower. As a consequence, in 1998 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated that flour products in this country be fortified with folic acid (actually, pteroylglutamic acid, an extremely minor component of the folates in unfortified food). The thinking of the bureaucrats in the FDA was that since flour is a primary component of the American diet, fortifying cereals, breads, and other flour products would ensure that all Americans got plenty of folic acid whether they wanted it or not. The desired outcome would be a drop in the number of babies born with NTDs and the incidence of heart disease would decrease. As an editorial accompanying the AJCN article points out that
The consequence was, however, that for each NTD prevented, several hundred thousand people were to be exposed, without choice, to extra folic acid. Despite this concern, no studies have been carried out in nonchildbearing subsets of the population to see whether they might also benefit from, or could even be harmed by, exposure to folic acid. The prevailing view was that it must be “a good thing” to give extra folic acid, not only to prevent NTDs but also to lower plasma homocysteine concentrations and perhaps prevent cardiovascular disease. Although folic acid fortification has reduced the number of NTDs, recent trials suggest a limited effect, or no effect, of folic acid intervention on cardiovascular disease, although the outcome may not be entirely negative.
So, once again, the law of unintended consequences asserts itself. In an effort to reduce NTDs and heart disease, the government has spawned what could be an epidemic of slow thinking in the population of folks over 60, the very people who are already worried about Alzheimer’s. And the very same folks who are worried about their cholesterol, and who, thanks to the government food pyramid, have been scared off of eating meat.
Since MD and I and most readers of this blog follow low-carb diets, all the folic acid added to flour-based products shouldn’t affect us. If we’re following a good-quality, whole-food, low-carb diet, we should be getting plenty of green leafy and colorful vegetables, all of which contain folic acid. If we’re really good, we eat liver – a great source of folic acid – from time to time. And since the vast majority of us eat a fair amount of meat, we all will have plenty of vitamin B-12 – which is only found in foods of animal origin, primarily meat. (There is some in eggs and dairy, but not nearly as much as in meat.)
We low-carbers will have good levels of vitamin B-12 and good levels of folate, so we should be well armed to maintain our ability to think well into our dotage.
Given the results of this study, a mystery that I have posted about several times lately can finally be solved.
Let’s look at a list of foods other than liver (which I’ve discovered from many commenters that very few people eat) that contain high levels of folic acid:
Fortified breakfast cereals
Bread, pasta and other whole wheat products
lentils
seeds
Green leafy vegetables
Asparagus
Oranges
Strawberries
Cantaloupe and other melons
Now let’s look at the list of foods that contain high levels of vitamin B-12:
Meat
The above study showed that high levels of folic acid combined with low levels of vitamin B-12 leads to cognitive impairment. Given this fact, looking at the above lists of foods, it’s pretty easy to connect the dots and suddenly realize why members of PETA are so stupid. They can’t help it. They all have too much folic acid and not enough vitamin B-12.
Readers of this blog who eat primarily meat (but who don’t like liver) and who eat few vegetables might want to consider a folic acid supplement. See my previous post on the best folic acid supplement.
Kidneys Sir..yaroo. You must inflect the word twds the end and say it thus KIDDLIES.
GENTLY grilled with some toms and a coupla fried eggs.
Fookin hell am salivating.
Also get yoursel some kiddlies and make a casserole with bacon , kiddlies, carrots, onions etc.
‘Rart bleedin narce’
Bon w/e
Hey Simon–
Kiddlies it is. What are toms?
Cheers–
MRE
Esther many thanks
Sinc
There are certain foods that cause odor, like garlic and other spices because certain chemicals they contain do come through your pores, but fresh red meat or fish is not going to! I can’t stand the half-assed research that someone like the author of the articles upthread indulge in just to try to justify their veganism. Brown rice protein over “odor producing” whey protein? PLEASE.
Hi LC–
I don’t think the research is half-assed, I think it doesn’t exist.
Cheers–
MRE
Try standing downwind of a bean-eating vegan.
Sheesh.
Hi Walt–
How true, how true.
Cheers–
MRE
Toms are those red things that came from the New World which most everyone associates with the Old World….meant to be marginally good for one even !
…… and don’t let me mention,oops, the Hunt family whom i had the misfortune to spend a night with…well one arm of them. Awful awful vegetarian bad ass Buddhist neurotic phuqers.
I couldnt get oot of there fast enough.
Lovely house mind !
Now read this from todays Telegraph about fat and the healing of the heart.
Hi Simon–
Toms…tomatoes. I get it. I love tomatoes, and although they’re a new world food, they taste much better when grown in the old world. Something in the soil I guess. I love gazpacho as made in Andalucia. I got a recipe and tried to make it in the US when we got home (actually, MD tried) and it tasted nothing like the Spanish variety. We asked a friend of ours from Spain who is a chef how to make it. He told us that it would never taste the same made with tomatoes grown in the US. Spanish tomatoes, said he, make all the difference. He fooled with our recipe and made some changes that made the soup taste like the Andalucian variety despite the American tomatoes.
Cheers–
MRE
Well, this pertains to cats, but perhaps it relates to humans somehow, too. When we took our cats off commercial food (no dry kibble or canned grain-free meat & vegetable) and put them on raw ground whole chickens (supplemented with E, Bs, salmon oil, egg yolks, chicken hearts & chicken livers, etc., to make it more like a rodent’s nutritional profile), one of the first thing we noticed was a complete absence of feces odor in their litter boxes. The urine still has a smell, of course (if it isn’t tended to), but the cats’ feces are like coyote skat, lightweight, dry as a bone in about 5 minutes, and completely free of smell, sort of like owl pellets. Amazing, yet it completely makes sense.
When we have fed canned again (due to my bad timing with the chicken grinding), the feces again stink until they are back on the raw chicken.
BTW, am about halfway through the UK doctor’s Great Cholesterol Con book (started yesterday) and find it very entertaining (my mind adds a John Cleese-ian delivery to the text for better or worse, but he does have a humorous style to sucha serious topic).
So for those who would find Colpo’s book of the same title, or Ravnskov’s Cholesterol Myths too daunting with all the facts, figures, and endless studies and statistics or small text, this new book might be just ticket. I mean the book starts out with a Dalek-inspired (Dr. Who robot) quote, “Instatinate, instatinate!” Whats not to like? And I’m not even a Dr. Who fan.
For those who have read the other two books I mentioned, it is a breeze to skim through.
Anna
Hi Anna–
Though I’m not a connoisseur of cat feces, your description makes sense. I’m sure it is the grain in the canned foods that triggers the odor, since a carnivore’s gut is not designed to digest such.
Cheers–
MRE
Two comments on comments: First, LCForevah, #17: yep, not only are they often grumpy, uptight, petty, micromanager types, but every vegetarian and every person on a low-fat diet that I know seems to always be getting a cold, have a cold, or be getting over a cold. They also always seem to look washed out and have dull, lifeless hair.
And #19, Esther: Agree with you totally on the wrongness of manipulating pets’ diets. A few years ago I started adding meat scraps to my dog’s dry food. He loves this, of course, but the vet reacted in horror, saying I needed to watch his fat intake. And watch it I do… go right down his delighted gullet. And here’s the interesting part: The dog had this terrible arthritis problem, limping noticeably, and was on a daily medication. I started feeding him delicious meat fat, scraps, and greasy juice from roasts mixed in with his dry food. Now his coat is shiny again and he acts like a younger dog, and I don’t give him the medication anymore. What is in dog food, even the “science” brands? Lots o’ grain! Dogs are carnivores!
–Anne
Hey Doc,
Check Slanker’s Grassfed Meats for kidney. I have 2 more kidneys, a beef heart, and a beef tongue waiting for me in the freezer. You can get all kinds of stuff brought to you.
Enjoy
Scott
Hi Scott–
Thanks for the info–I’ll give them a try.
Cheers–
MRE
When eating liver I heard that one should freeze it for a while then thaw it out and then eat it. This gets rid of any toxins. Is this correct?
Hi Sue–
This is the first I’ve ever heard of this idea. It doesn’t make much sense to me. I’ve eaten fresh liver a zillion times and, as far as I can tell, have never had a problem. I don’t know what the toxins would be in liver, anyway.
Cheers–
MRE
The “feces odor” thing does not apply only to animals. It works also on humans. What a relief for my family since I low-carb
Hi gallier2–
You are right. I’ve got an entire post sort of ready in my head on this very issue. I just need to get it down on electrons.
Best–
MRE
Hi Mike–can’t wait to read that post! Seriously, one of the nicest surprises about going low carb is how, um, manageable one’s bathroom habits become.
Hi Paul–
It is indeed nice. I’ll post it as soon as I can. The blogworthy material is stacking up.
Cheers–
MRE
Dr. Mike,
On #29 Sue’s comment. I believe Sallie Fallon recommends raw meat/fish dishes and she says that freezing the food first for a number of days will kill any parasites that they may contain.
Porter
Hi Porter–
I don’t know if I agree with that or not. I need to look into it when I get some time. I know freezing doesn’t kill all parasites, but I don’t know whether or not it kills all parasites that one might find in liver.
Cheers–
MRE
Dear Mike,
In follow up to comment #32, Sallie Fallon in her book, Nourishing Traditions 2d ed has a chapter on “Raw Meat Appetizers” and she states on page 231, “The problem of parasites in beef or lamb is easily solved. Simply freeze the meat for 14 days. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, this will kill off all parasites.” She also states that parasitic infections are common in Japanese and Koreans who frequently eat raw fish, so parasitic infection from raw flesh must be taken seriously and then because fish flesh texture does not handle freezing well she recommends to prevent parasite infection from fish, “to marinate or ferment fish in an acid solution of lemon juice, lime juice or whey. This will effectively kill off all parasites and pathogens and will serve to predigest the fish as well.”
Porter
Hi Porter–
Makes sense. I had just never heard of it. I do know that some parasites have a cystic stage that is very difficult to kill, even by freezing.
Best–
MRE