Vitamin B against Alzheimer’s? Too early to tell.

An inter­est­ing and very well-doc­u­ment­ed arti­cle in the Los Ange­les Times reviews stud­ies look­ing at Vit­a­min B and its role in improv­ing mem­o­ry.

The vit­a­mins — includ­ing folic acid and vit­a­mins B6 and B12 — are often tout­ed as a way to improve mem­o­ry and stave off cog­ni­tive decline. The claims are based on the find­ing that lev­els of the vit­a­min are low in peo­ple with var­i­ous forms of cog­ni­tive impair­ment, includ­ing demen­tia and Alzheimer’s dis­ease. But experts say it’s still unclear whether tak­ing high dos­es of the vit­a­mins will keep such con­di­tions at bay.

[…] Haan says the exist­ing body of stud­ies may be incon­clu­sive because the caus­es of cog­ni­tive decline — which are incom­plete­ly under­stood — are prob­a­bly too com­plex to be halt­ed with a sin­gle vit­a­min supplement.

Com­ments: To date, no sup­ple­ment has been shown to effec­tive­ly slow down cog­ni­tive decline and post­pone Alzheimer’s dis­ease symp­toms. It seems that there is no mag­ic pill to brain health and no sin­gle solu­tion. Our best bet so far is a brain-healthy lifestyle includ­ing at least phys­i­cal exer­cise, bal­anced diet, men­tal stim­u­la­tion and brain train­ing, stress man­age­ment, and social engagement.

To read more on sup­ple­ments and their effects on brain functions:

Nutri­tion and sup­ple­ments (DHEA, Gink­go Bilo­ba, Omega‑3): sep­a­rat­ing myth from fact