Avoid dementia-Get your B-12 shots!
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Ok, that’s perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but recent research points to a connection between low B-12 levels and an increased risk of senile dementia. In a study from Oxford and the University of Oslo (1), researchers found elderly people who had lower B-12 had a greater decrease in brain volume over the course of the 5 year prospective study. The decrease in brain volume is thought to reflect brain atrophy suggesting maintaining optimal B-12 levels can slow the onset of brain atrophy and dementia.
Although most people with adequate diets and good digestive health can absorb adequate amounts of B-12 from the gut, it seems prudent to have vitamin levels checked and supplemented when appropriate.
(1) A. Vogiatzoglou, MSc, H. Refsum, MD, PhD, C. Johnston, S. M. Smith, DPhil, K. M. Bradley, FRCR, FRCP, C. de Jager, PhD, M. M. Budge, MD and A. D. Smith, DPhil, FmedSci. Vitamin B12 status and rate of brain volume loss in community-dwelling elderly. Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, UK; Institute of Basic Medical Sciences (A.V., H.R.), Department of Nutrition, University of Oslo, Norway; Oxford University Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (S.M.S.), UK; and Department of Geriatric Medicine (M.M.B.), The Canberra Hospital and Australian National University Medical School, Australia.
