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Oral Vitamin B12 Supplementation and Cognitive Performance in Elderly People

W

Wageningen University

Status

Completed

Conditions

Cognitive Symptoms
Cognitive Decline

Treatments

Behavioral: vitamin B12 supplementation
Behavioral: vitamin B12 + folic acid combined supplementation

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00111267
ZonMW 2100.0067
P03.0277L

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this trial is to study the effects of oral vitamin B12 supplementation and vitamin B12 combined with folic acid supplementation on cognitive performance for 24 weeks in elderly people with mild vitamin B12 deficiency.

Full description

Mild vitamin B12 deficiency is highly prevalent in old age. Reasons for this high prevalence are not fully understood, but include atrophic gastritis and bacterial overgrowth which affect the absorption (active) of food-bound vitamin B12. In contrast, the ability to absorb crystalline vitamin B12 (e.g. the form found in fortified foods or vitamin pills) remains intact in old age. In both healthy and cognitively impaired elderly people, associations between vitamin B12 status and cognitive performance have been observed, and the follow-up of geriatric patients suggests effects of parenteral treatment in early cognitive impairment.

We investigated whether daily oral supplementation with 1,000 μg vitamin B12 or 1,000 μg vitamin B12 combined with 400 μg folate for 24 weeks improves cognitive performance in people over 70 years with vitamin B12 deficiency.

Sex

All

Ages

70+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Mild vitamin B12 deficiency:

    • Low plasma vitamin B12 concentration (100 < B12 < 300 pmol/L)
    • Elevated methylmalonic acid (MMA) concentration (> 0.32 umol/L)
    • Creatinine concentration < 120 umol/L

Exclusion criteria

  • Severe cognitive impairment
  • Anemia
  • Gastrointestinal surgery or diseases
  • Use of vitamin B12 injections or supplements containing > 25 ug vitamin B12 and/or 200 ug folic acid
  • < 90% compliance during a 2 week placebo run in period
  • No written informed consent
  • Participation in other research studies

Trial design

Primary purpose

Prevention

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

Double Blind

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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