Older people may not be getting enough vitamin B12, and that could affect their thinking and the size of their brain, according to a new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center.
The results of the study are published in the Sept. 27 issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers from Rush led by Christine Tangney, PhD, an associate professor of clinical nutrition, followed a group of 121 people aged 65 or older for 4.5 years. They measured the participants blood levels of vitamin B12 and markers of its breakdown products. They also recorded peoples performance on tests of thinking skills and took MRI scans of their brains.
The researchers found that low levels of vitamin B12 were linked to smaller brain volumes and lower scores on cognitive tests.
Almost all of the markers of B12 deficiency are strongly and inversely related to cognitive function, which means that as they rise, there was lower brain volume and worse performance on the cognitive tests, says Tangney. “Our findings lend support for the contention that poor vitamin B12 status is a potential risk factor for brain atrophy and may contribute to cognitive impairment.
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Surely older people get problems with brain…because they are less active and drink a lot less water than needed. So their bodies become more dehydrated. Second…even if an old get enough B12 he cannot use it because of lack of another enzyme that helps digest B12. Ubiquinol helps to solve this problem.