Even a slight vitamin B12 deficits harm the brain

Those who want to stay mentally fit until old age, should ensure a good supply of vitamin B12. Because even slight deficits in the essential vitamin can obviously pull brain changes by itself.

In their study of 107 people aged between 61 and 87, researchers at Oxford University came to a frightening conclusion: after an observation period of 5 years, the elderly with the lowest vitamin B12 concentration in their blood plasma showed a significant decrease in brain volume. - Although no deficiency was diagnosed even in this group according to the current criteria!

Changes in the brain can, in turn, be an early indicator of a decline in memory. "The findings support previous studies in which a connection between vitamin B12 deficiency and reduced mental performance was repeatedly pointed out," commented the Dresden pharmacologist Prof. Joachim Schmidt from the Society for Biofactors (GfB) on the study results.

"Vitamin B12 deficiency is an underestimated problem, especially in older people," warns the GfB. Because in old age, the absorption of the vitamin from food is often disturbed: "The formation of stomach acid often decreases," explained Schmidt. Since the acid is necessary to dissolve vitamin B12 from food, the biofactor cannot be channeled into the body in the required quantities. In addition, vitamin B12 needs a transport molecule, the so-called intrinsic factor, in order to get from the intestine into the blood. If this factor is only produced to a limited extent in the stomach, a vitamin deficiency is also inevitable. The pharmacist Uwe Gröber knows that some drugs, such as gastric acid blockers (e.g. omeprazole) or the frequently prescribed diabetes drug metformin, interfere with vitamin B12 absorption.

In these cases, a vitamin supplement is the drug of choice, advises the Society for Biofactors. Because vitamin B12 in preparations is not bound to food protein and can therefore be absorbed regardless of the gastric acid concentration. Highly dosed vitamin B12 (e.g. one tablet with 1000 micrograms per day) can get from the intestine into the blood even if there is no intrinsic factor.

A diet-related vitamin B12 deficiency occurs especially in strict vegetarians, as the vitamin is almost exclusively contained in foods of animal origin.

Source: Stuttgart [Society for Biofactors eV]