Keep your wits about you by eating meat, dairy
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A common nutrient found in meat, fish and dairy products, vitamin B12, may protect against brain volume loss as people age, according to a study in the journal Neurology. For the study, 107 people over age 60 underwent brain scans, memory tests and physical tests. And researchers also took blood samples of the study volunteers to measure levels of B12.
Five years went by, and researchers tested the volunteers again with brain scans and memory tests. They found that those who had higher levels of B12 in their blood were six times less likely to experience brain shrinkage than those with low levels of the vitamin. None of the people were outright deficient in B12, which can lead to disorientation and confusion, according to information on the Mayo Clinic website.
‘Many factors that affect brain health are thought to be out of our control, but this study suggests that simply adjusting our diets to consume more vitamin B12 through eating meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk may be something we can easily adjust to prevent brain shrinkage and so perhaps save our memory,” said study author Anna Vogiatzoglou, with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in a news release. “Research shows that vitamin B12 deficiency is a public health problem, especially among the elderly, so more vitamin B12 intake could help reverse this problem.’
The study did not examine whether taking vitamin B12 supplements would have the same effect as actual food consumption on memory.
-- Susan Brink