Vitamin B12 prevents Alzheimer's disease

Research suggests that vitamin B12 may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Research published in one of the widely read journals of the American Academy of Neurology (Neurology) suggests that vitamin B12 may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. This finding requires further research that would confirm whether the level of the active form of this vitamin may become a marker of the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Low levels of B12 are very common in older people. In a seven-year study conducted on a group of 271 Finns aged 65-71 who at the beginning of the study did not suffer from dementia, and during the study 17 subjects fell ill with Alzheimer, their blood samples were tested for the content of the active form of vitamin B12 and amino acid homocysteine. Elevated levels of homocysteine ​​correlated with cerebrovascular events such as, for example, strokes.

Based on the results of these studies, it can be concluded that a small increase in homocysteine ​​in the patient's blood increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 16%, while a much smaller increase (around 100,000 times smaller) of vitamin B12 reduces the risk of disease by 2%.

However, it is necessary to carry out further tests that could verify the hypothesis before vitamin B12 will be issued from pharmacies as a food supplement indicated in the protection and improvement of memory.

Before this happens, it is worth reaching for a natural source of vitamin B12, which are only animal products: fish, poultry, lean meat, offal.