Free Republic

Meeting the minimum requirement for vitamin B12, needed to make DNA, red blood cells and nerve tissue, may not actually be enough—particularly if you are older. It may even put you at risk for cognitive impairment. A new study found that older, healthy volunteers, with lower concentrations of B12, but still in the normal range, showed signs of neurological and cognitive deficiency. These levels were associated with more damage to the brain's white matter—the nerve fibers that enable communication between areas of the brain—and test scores associated with slower cognitive and visual processing speeds, compared to those with higher B12....

Scientists have published new research which examines the relationship between folate and vitamin B12 status and its associations with greater prevalence of depressive symptoms in a group of community-dwelling older adults. The study shows that low vitamin B12 status is linked to depressive symptoms, but shows that folate is not associated with depression. Vitamin B status in Ireland Deficiency and low status of the B-vitamins such as folate and vitamin B12 are highly present in older people. In Ireland, one in eight older adults are reported to have low B12 status, while low dietary intake and low blood status have...

Worms don't wiggle when they have Alzheimer's disease. Yet something helped worms with the disease hold onto their wiggle in Professor Jessica Tanis's lab. While all the worms were grown on a diet of E. coli, it turns out that one strain of E. coli had higher levels of vitamin B12 than the other. "The worms we use all have exactly the same genetic background, they react to amyloid beta like humans do, and we can exactly control what they eat, so we can really get down to the molecular mechanisms at work." In the brains of humans with Alzheimer's,...

VITAMIN B12 deficiency produces a number of eerie effects on the body and the type of symptoms you may experience depend on the underlying cause. One common warning sign associated with B12 deficiency caused by pernicious anaemia is a particular sound. Vitamin B12's impact on the body is brought into sharp relief if you become deficient in the vitamin. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep the body’s nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all cells. If the body does not get enough of the vitamin, it therefore responds in disturbing ways....