B vitamin supplementation improves cognitive function in the middle aged and elderly with hyperhomocysteinemia

Abstract

Objective: An intervention study was performed to determine if supplement containing folic acid, vitamin B₆, and vitamin B₁₂ could improve cognitive function and lower homocysteine in middle-aged and elderly patients with hyperhomocysteinemia.

Methods: One hundred and four participants with hyperhomocysteinemia were recruited in Tianjin, China, aged 55–94 years old. Fifty-seven individuals with hyperhomocysteinemia were included in the intervention group (vitamin B group, which received 800 µg/day of folate, with 10 mg of vitamin B₆ and 25 µg of vitamin B₁₂) and 47 patients in the placebo group. The endpoint was the improvement in cognitive function as evaluated by Basic Cognitive Aptitude Tests (BCATs). All parameters were measured before and after the treatment period of 14 weeks.

Results: The BCAT total score and four sub-tests scores (digit copy, Chinese character rotation, digital working memory, and recognition of meaningless figure) of BCAT at 14 weeks significantly increased only for the vitamin B group. Serum total homocysteine (tHcy) levels significantly decreased in the intervention group, while serum concentrations of folate, vitamin B₆, and vitamin B₁₂ significantly increased in the intervention group.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that supplement containing folate, vitamin B₆, and vitamin B₁₂ in middle-aged and elderly patients with hyperhomocysteinemia could improve their cognitive function partly and reduce serum tHcy levels.

Keywords:

• B vitamins
• Hyperhomocysteinemia
• Cognition
• The middle aged and elderly
• Homocysteine

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 14JCZDJC36100), Danone Institute China Diet Nutrition Research and Communication Grant (No. DIC2006-08) and Tianjin Application Basic and Front Technology Research Project Grant (No. 09JCYBJC12900).

Disclaimer statements

Contributors DC and HK were involved in the recruitment of subjects, the drafting of questionnaire, statistics of the data, and in writing the manuscript. WP, HY and HL were involved in cognitive function test, nutrition intervention, measurement of biochemical variables, and in the collection of data. CH and YJ were involved in the design of the trial and revison of the manuscript.

Funding None.

Conflicts of interest None.

Ethics approval Before participation in our study, all subjects signed an informed consent document according to the procedures required by the Research Ethics Committee of the Institute, which also approved the study protocol.