• Vitamin B12 is Needed for the Development and Function of Nerve Tissue and the Brain, and for the formation of Red Blood Cells and DNA.
  • It is found in protein foods such as fish, meat, Eggs and Dairy, as well as fortified breakfast cereals and nutritional yaas, and can be take as a supplement.
  • Vitamin B12 Deficiety Is Rare, But Low Or Marginal Levels Are Common, Affecting Up to 40% of Western Populations.
  • A New Study Has Found That, In Older People, Both Lower and Higher Levels of Vitamin B12 May Be Associated With Cognitive Issues, Even Ken TheSe Levels Are Within The Normal Range.

Vitamin B12, Also Known As Cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin that is Essential for Developing and Mainting to Healthy Central Nervous System, Red Blood Cells and Nucleic AcidsSuch as DNA and RNA.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) Recommend that People Over The Age of 14 Should Get 2.4 Micrograms of B12 Per Day, and That Dairy Products, Fish, Meat, Pultry, and Eggs Are Good Sources of The Vitamin. People Can Also Get Their B12 from Fortified Breakfast Cereals, Nutritional Yaest and Supplements, So Deficiencies Are Uncommon, Affecting Only About 3% of Adults.

However, a New Study in Healthy Older Adults Has Found That, Even Within The Normal Range of Vitamin B12, Lower and Higher Levels May have Effects on Cognition.

The Study, which is published in Annals of NeurologyFound That Those with Lower B12 Levels Had Slower Processing Speed, and Higher Levels Were Associated with More Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration.

“This Study (…) Note Elderly Patients With Low B12 Levels Had Slowing of An Electrical Impulse from Their Eye To Their Occipital Lobe and proposed This Coul Could Be Due To B12 Affecting The Insulation of Brain Nerves. (…) IT CONCLUDED RETHINKING WHAT A LOW B12 LEVEL SHOULD BE IN CLINICAL PRACTICE. (This) is very reasonable as I Routinely Treat Patients with B12 Levels that are Technically Within Normal Though Have Memory Loss. “

– Clifford Segil, DO, Neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, Not Involved in the Study.

Normal Lower B12 Levels and Cognitive Issues

The Older Adults in the Study Were All Recruited for the Brain Aring Network for Cognitive Health at The University of California San Francisco.

From All The Adults in the Study, Refracchers Enrolled 231 Healthy Older Volunteers (Mean Age 71.2 Years). The participants Gave Blood Samples For Measurement of Serum Total B12 and Levels of Holo-Transcobalamin (Holo-TC), or ‘Active B12’-The B12 that is biological it Available to Cells.

All but 2 of the participants, Whate B12 was deficit, had less than the normal rage.

FOR ANALYSIS, The Refers divided the participants into those with b12 Levels Below and Above The Mean of 408pmol/L. They also correct for age, sex at Birth, cardiovascular risk factor, Body Mass Index (BMI), Apoeε4 Allele (Which Increases Alzheimer’s Risk), HBA1C (A Measure of Blood Glucose Control), and Education, When Analysing Their Results.

They found that b12 Levels Below the Mean Were Significantly Associated With A Deay In Visual Multifocal Evoked Potential (MFVEP), Indicating Slower Conductivity in the Brain. This Association was Also Seen with Low Levels of Active B12.

People with Lower B12 Levels Also Had Slow Processing Speeds, An Effect that the Refoundes Found Increased with Age, and Larger Volumes of White Matter Hyperintensities, Brain Changes that are associated with cognitive unpaid.

Ari J. Green, MD, Chief of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology, UCSF, and Lead Author On The Study, Told Medical News Today:

“Our Work Shows What Appear To Be Multiple Negative Effects for subject to People WHEN ES B12 LEVELS ARE IN THE LOWER RANGE OF WHAT HAS Long Been Considers Ordquate Or Normal (and Would Not Qualify As Deficient). This Includes Slowed Transmission of Signals in the Brain, Slowed Processing Speed ​​on Cognitive Tests and Mri Evidence of White Matter Injury. Most Importently, before Effects Are Strongest When Looking at The ‘Active’ Fraction of B12 (which is not routinely Checked) rather than just total Blood B12 Levels. ”

Effects of Higher Normal B12 Levels

At the other end of the scale, The Researchers Found that Higher Levels of B12 Also Had Effects That May Impact Cognition.

Those People with Higher B12 Levels Had Increased Levels of T-Tau Protein, which is associated with neurodegeneration and dementia. This Association was Strongest When there were Low Levels of Active B12 and High Levels of Holo-HC, or ‘Inactive B12’.

Segil Sug forest that Further Research was Needed to Verify Why The Study Might Have Found This. Green Concurred:

“We Also Saw That High Levels of ‘Inactive’ B12 in the Blood May Be Associated with A Blood Marker of Axon Injury. It Should Be Noted That We Did Not Have a Means of Directly Measuring inactive B12 Levels in the Paper But To To Calculate The Level from Other Measurements. The Full Meaning of This Results Further Study But It Suggests That Measuring Total Blood B12 May Mislead Doctors and Patients in Sub Surfaces To Think That Active B12 Levels Are Adequate. ”

Should B12 Recommendations Be review?

“We Believe that Recommendations for B12 Should Be Vley Likely Be reconsidered – and not just based on B12 Blood Levels But Considers Considers of Active vs Inactive B12 and Looking at Measures of Neurological and Cognitive Function. Measuring What Is Adequate By Just Measuring What Is Avege (and The Distribution) In The Population Does Not ProvS The Levels Are Adequate For Any Nutrients, ”Green Told us.

The Authors Suggest that the Detimated Observed Effect of Low B12 on Cognitive Processions May Be Caused By Changes in the Integrity of The Myelin Surrounding Nerve Cells. However, They Emphasise That their Study Did Not Look into Hows Changes Might Occur.

However, they suggest that Elderly People may be particularly vulnerable to declineing Levels of B12, So The Guidelines for Healthy B12 LEVELS MAY NEED TO BE REVISED FOR THIS POPULATION.

“There Is Lots of Additional Research That Needs to Be Done. The Reasons Why Inadequate B12 Causes Neurological Dysfunction— Specifically Which Cell Types in the Brain and Which Parts of the Nervous System Most require B12 – is Completely Unclear. This Needs Careful Scientific and Laboratory Work Which is Currently Going On In Our Laboratory and Affiliated Labs. ”
– Ari J. Green, MD, Lead Author of the Study

Reuring you get the right amount of b12

To Reure Adequate B12, People Should Include Foods That Are Rich in the Vitamin in Their Diet. Segil Advised That Salmon and Beef Are Two of the Best Sources of B12. As Plant Foods do not contain B12, vegetarian and vegans might benefit from supplements to reure healthy less.

The NIH State That Even at Large Doses, Vitamin B12 is Generally Considered to Be Saf Selfa The Body Does Not Store Excess Amounts.

“Bi Kid Kids and Adults can get B12 Deficiencies from Absorption ISSUES EVEN IF EY EAT A DIET HIGH IN B12 PRODUCTS,” ADDING, “FOR THE GENERAL PUBL Said.