NIBBLES - affect of tofu on brain; relationship between folate and Alzherimer's - Brief Article

* Don't panic over a recent study claiming that eating tofu at least twice a week raises the rate of brain aging. The study had limited data on the participants' diets and couldn't rule out other factors that might have made tofu-eaters more vulnerable to mild declines in thinking ability. Even if tofu affects the brain, the study suggests that its impact is small. Age, education, and history of a stroke explained 28 percent of the differences in test scores of thinking ability. The authors estimate that eating tofu might account for less than one percent.

J. Amer. Coll. Nutr. 19: 207, 242, 2000.

* Nuns who had Alzheimer's disease lesions upon autopsy were more likely to have had low levels of folate in blood samples that were taken years earlier. But it's not known whether the folate deficiency contributed to the disease, whether the disease caused the deficiency, or whether folate supplements might slow or prevent Alzheimer's or other dementias.

Amer. J. Clin. Nutr. 71: 859, 993, 2000.

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