Category: Nutrition

Vitamin B12 deficiency is even linked to brain shrinkage.

Problems with general thinking and memory skills can indicate vitamin B12 deficiency.

People with a vitamin B12 deficiency can have problems with worse memory for events and ideas.

Around 12.5 percent of people over 50 have a vitamin B12 deficiency, recent studies find.

Other, more common signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include feeling tired, experiencing muscle weakness and being constipated.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is even linked to brain shrinkage.

The latest result come from a study of 5,290 people in Ireland.

The study found that along with B12 deficiency, 14 percent had a folate deficiency.

Very few people in the study took supplements to correct the deficiency.

Vitamin B12 and folate are both vital for nerve function, brain health and DNA.

Fortunately, these deficiencies are easy to rectify with diet or supplementation.

Good dietary sources of vitamin B12 include fish, poultry, eggs and low-fat milk.

Fortified breakfast cereals also contain vitamin B12.

Professor Anne Molloy, study co-author, said:

“This study shows a surprising level of inadequate folate among older persons, despite many years of voluntary folic acid fortification of certain foods on the Irish market.

Concerns relating to excessive folic acid intake, particularly in older people, have been at the heart of current debates regarding the risks of population-wide folic acid fortification.”

The rate of vitamin B12 deficiency is higher in those who are older, vegetarian, smokers or have certain digestive problems, such as Crohn’s disease.

Vitamin B12 deficiency has also been linked to depression.

Typical symptoms of depression include low mood, loss of energy and problems concentrating.

In fact, people with a deficiency in vitamin B12 are at triple the risk of developing melancholic depression, one study has found.

The study was published in the British Journal of Nutrition (Laird et al., 2018).

Levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in northern latitudes.

Depression symptoms like energy loss, concentration problems and lack of pleasure can be signs of vitamin D deficiency.

Around half of the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D.

Most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in northern latitudes.

The study included 1,282 older people, some of whom were depressed.

The results showed that blood vitamin D levels were 14% lower in those with both minor and major depression.

The study’s authors write:

“Underlying causes of vitamin D deficiency such as less sun exposure as a result of decreased outdoor activity, different housing or clothing habits and decreased vitamin intake may be secondary to depression, but depression may also be the consequence of poor vitamin D status.

Moreover, poor vitamin D status causes an increase in serum parathyroid hormone levels.”

The scientists found that almost half the people in the study were deficient in vitamin D.

The authors write:

“…38.8 percent of men and 56.9 percent of women in our community-based cohort had an insufficient vitamin D status.”

Vitamin D is found in oily fish, egg yolks, fortified cereals and some margarine spreads.

Most people need around 10 micrograms per day, which can also be obtained from supplements.

The study was published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry (Hoogendijk et al., 2008).

Brain shrinkage was six times more likely in those with low levels of this vitamin.

Vitamin B12 may protect against brain shrinkage with age, research finds.

People with higher vitamin B12 levels were six times less likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

Vitamin B12 levels can be boosted through supplementation or by eating foods such as dairy, liver, salmon and eggs.

Fortified breakfast cereals also contain vitamin B12.

Around one-in-four people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency — however none of the people in the study were deficient.

People who may have difficult getting enough vitamin B12 include vegetarians, older people and those with some digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.

The study included 107 older people who had brain scans, memory testing and their blood levels were checked for vitamin B12 levels.

Dr Anna Vogiatzoglou, the study’s first author, said:

“Many factors that affect brain health are thought to be out of our control, but this study suggests that simply adjusting our diets to consume more vitamin B12 through eating meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk may be something we can easily adjust to prevent brain shrinkage and so perhaps save our memory.

Research shows that vitamin B12 deficiency is a public health problem, especially among the elderly, so more vitamin B12 intake could help reverse this problem.

Without carrying out a clinical trial, we acknowledge that it is still not known whether B12 supplementation would actually make a difference in elderly persons at risk for brain shrinkage.”

Vitamin B12 is involved in the production of red blood cells.

A deficiency — which is more frequent in those over 60 — can cause anemia, which is a lack of red blood cells.

Dr Vogiatzoglou continued:

“Previous research on the vitamin has had mixed results and few studies have been done specifically with brain scans in elderly populations.

We tested for vitamin B12 levels in a unique, more accurate way by looking at two certain markers for it in the blood.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Vogiatzoglou, et al., 2008).