Vitamins are an essential part of your daily routine. Some fight fatigue, promote brain health or simply replace the amount of vitamins people use to get from food. Vitamin B12 is known to enhance memory and promote healthy brain activity. New research says it may also protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
This vitamin’s key role is promoting normal functioning in the brain and nervous system and the formation of blood in the body.
The recently published seven-year study took blood samples from 271 people between the ages of 65 to 79 who had no symptoms of dementia. During the duration of the study, 17 people developed Alzheimer’s.
Blood samples were tested for levels of homocysteine, an amino acid associated with vitamin B12. Too much of it can have negative effects on the brain, such as stroke. But higher levels of vitamin B12 can lower homocysteine.
The study found that higher levels of that amino acid increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by more than 16 percent.
While further research on the role of vitamin B12 as a marker for identifying people who have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s, it is surprisingly common for the elderly to have extremely low levels of B12, a vitamin that may decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s.
I’ll be adding it to my vitamin cabinet! Do you use B12? If not, would you now?
Tags: Alz, Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer’s patients, B12, vitamins
