Abstract
Human longevity can be explained by a variety of factors, among them, nutritional factor would play an important role. In our study of Korean centenarians for their longevity, the apparent nutritional imbalance in the traditional semi-vegetarian diet raised a special attention, especially on vitamin B12 status, supplied by animal foods. Interestingly, we found that the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficient Korean centenarians was not higher compared with those from Western nations with animal-oriented traditional foods. We assumed that there might be some unveiled sources for vitamin B12 in the Korean traditional foods. Screening of vitamin B12 contents has revealed that some traditional soybean-fermented foods, such as Doenjang and Chunggukjang, and seaweeds contain considerable amounts of vitamin B12. Taken together, it can be summarized that the traditional foods, especially of fermentation, might be evaluated for compensation of the nutritional imbalance in the vegetable-oriented dietary pattern by supplying vitamin B12, resulting in maintenance of health status.
Highlights
It is well known that older adults comprise the fastest growing portion of the world population and that the oldest old are one of the fastest growing subgroups
We found that serum homocysteine concentration was not significantly correlated with age, serum folate, or vitamin B12; serum vitamin B12 was found to be positively associated with serum folate (r = 0.2266, P < .05) as well as WBC levels (r = 0.2623, P < .05), and serum folate was positively correlated with RBC levels (r = 0.2685, P < .05) in this elderly cohort
Centenarians in Korea seem to have been keeping to this traditional dietary pattern with one recent study revealing that female Korean centenarians were consuming 87.1% of the foods in their diet from plant sources [9]
Summary
It is well known that older adults comprise the fastest growing portion of the world population and that the oldest old (including centenarians) are one of the fastest growing subgroups. One of the mysteries of Korean longevity has come from medical and nutritional assessment of centenarians that has indicated that many are relatively healthy, despite the lifelong traditional grain and vegetable-oriented dietary pattern. These findings are contradictory to the modern nutritional concept of nutritional balance for maintenance of health, since it is a challenge for most vegetarian (or semivegetarian) diets to supply adequate levels of several key nutrients, in particular vitamin B12. Of their low intake of animal products will be the focus of the this investigation
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