EAT YOUR greens and get your B vitamins by eating meat and fish if you want to keep your brain healthy. High levels of B vitamins have been shown to slow the natural shrinkage of the brain as we grow old.
Memory loss is a recognised condition associated with aging, with about one in six elderly people having what is defined as mild cognitive impairment, said Dr Celeste de Jager of the University of Oxford’s department of medicine.
About half the people with this impairment will in turn go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease within five years, she said. Our brains also shrink as we age, and this could contribute to memory loss.
Dr de Jager is involved in research that shows high doses of B vitamins and folic acid can significantly slow this shrinkage. Low levels of B vitamins are also associated with poor memory performance. “Treatments for dementia and Alzheimer’s are very much needed,” she told a session at the British Science Association Festival of Science under way this week in Bradford. She is involved in research testing whether taking high-dose supplements of B6, B12 and folic acid could improve memory and halt brain shrinkage.
B vitamins are important because they reduce levels of a biochemical called homocysteine, she said. “Homocysteine is a known risk factor for elderly decline.”
The researchers set up a two-year trial involving 266 people over 70 years of age and diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. None of the subjects had confirmed Alzheimer’s, Dr de Jager said. Each subject underwent a brain scan and also cognitive tests so that follow-up comparisons could be made at the end of the study.
The participants were given tablets with half the group receiving high-dose B vitamins and half receiving a placebo. Dr de Jager stressed that the vitamins were given at medicinal strength, multiples of the amount normally available in a standard multivitamin.
The scan results showed those taking the B vitamins and folic acid had low levels of shrinkage, less than one per cent per year. Those taking placebo had an average loss of 2.5 per cent per year, Dr de Jager said.
Participants taking the vitamins also scored better on the verbal cognitive tests, with 7 per cent higher scores. The research team at Oxford now wants to conduct a much larger trial to get a better assessment of the treatment.
She emphasised that while these high vitamin doses had no obvious side effects, people should not self-administer high-dose vitamins. “Self-dosing needs to be treated with caution,” she said. Studies had shown that high folic acid levels could reactivate cancer cells.
Dr de Jager said she would use diet to acquire the vitamins. Green vegetables, particularly broccoli, is a good source of folic acid and both meat and fish were rich in B vitamins, she said.