USE OF FOLIC ACID-FORTIFIED MILK IN THE ELDERLY POPULATION

Folic acid deficiency is common in the elderly population, resulting i n anaemia, dementia, many neurological sequelae and an indirect role i n atheromatous disease. An increase in natural food folate is relative ly ineffective at increasing folate status and the use of folate forti fication of foodstuffs is recommended. The aim of our study was to ass ess the benefits of folic acid-fortified milk to the folate status of an elderly institutionalised population. 49 subjects received fortifie d milk as part of their daily diet for at least 6 months (active group ) and 40 subjects received unfortified milk (control group). Our resul ts showed a mean serum folate level in the active group of 5.81 (1.1-1 7.6) mu g/l compared to the control group mean of 2.16 (0.5-9.4) mu g/ l (p < 0.001; normal range for serum folate 2.7-20 mu g/l). Similarly the mean red cell folate level in the active group of 316.5 (130-905) mu g/l was significantly higher than the control group mean of 196.1 ( 95-490) mu g/l (p < 0.001; normal range for red cell folate 150-1,000 mu g/l). Our results suggest that folic acid-fortified milk is an effi cacious and acceptable method of administration of folic acid in the e lderly population and we recommend the use of folic acid-fortified mil k in the regular daily diet of the elderly population.