Each day should include at least one helping—a small side salad or a half-cup serving of cooked green vegetables–in order to ensure you get enough B vitamin folate. Folate plays a crucial role in battling hearing loss and depression in mature adults. In a study of postmenopausal women, those who were overweight averaged 12 percent less folate in their blood than normal-weight women; those who were obese had 22% less (AARP The Magazine, March/April 2022 Issue, page 36).