Relations of vitamin B-12, vitamin B-6, folate, and homocysteine to cognitive performance in the Normative Aging Study

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 63; no. 3; pp. 306 - 314
• Main Authors: Riggs, KM, Spiro, A, Tucker, K, Rush, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD Elsevier Inc 01.03.1996; American Society for Clinical Nutrition; American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc
• Subjects: ACIDE FOLIQUE; ACIDO FOLICO; AGE; AGE DIFFERENCES; Aged; AGING; Aging - physiology; Amino acids; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; blood; BLOOD PLASMA; CAPACIDAD MENTAL; CAPACITE MENTALE; cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Development. Metamorphosis. Moult. Ageing; EDAD; EDUCACION; EDUCATION; ENFERMEDADES VASCULARES; ENVEJECIMIENTO; FOLIC ACID; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HOMBRES; HOMME; HOMOCISTEINA; HOMOCYSTEINE; Homocysteine - blood; Homocysteine - physiology; Humans; MALADIE VASCULAIRE; Male; Memory; Memory - physiology; MEN; MENTAL ABILITY; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; physiology; PIRIDOXINA; PLASMA SANGUIN; PLASMA SANGUINEO; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; PYRIDOXINE; Pyridoxine - blood; Pyridoxine - physiology; Reference Values; Space Perception; VASCULAR DISEASES; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; VIEILLISSEMENT; Vitamin B; Vitamin B 12; Vitamin B 12 - blood; Vitamin B 12 - physiology; VITAMIN B12; VITAMINA B12; VITAMINE B12; Human; Senescence; B-Vitamins; Cognition; Pyridoxine; Folic acid; Cyanocobalamin; Folate; Blood plasma; Adult; Elderly; Age; Nutritional status
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/63.3.306

We investigated the relations between plasma concentrations of homocysteine and vitamins B-12 and B-6 and folate, and scores from a battery of cognitive tests for 70 male subjects, aged 54-81 y, in the Normative Aging Study. Lower concentrations of vitamin B-12 (P=0.04) and folate (P=0.003) and higher concentrations of homocysteine (P=0.0009 ) were associated with poorer spatial copying skills. Plasma homocysteine was a stronger predictor of spatial copying performance than either vitamin B-12 or folate. The association of homocysteine with spatial copying performance was not explained by clinical diagnoses of vascular disease. Higher concentrations of vitamin B-6 were related to better performance on two measures of memory (P=0.03 and P=0.05). The results suggest that vitamins (and homocysteine) may have differential effects on cognitive abilities. Individual vitamins and homocysteine should be explored further as determinants of patterns of cognitive impairment.