Comply with the minimum requirement for vitamin B12, necessary to manufacture DNA, red blood cells and nervous tissue, may not be sufficient, especially if it is greater. You can even put it at risk of cognitive impairment.
A new study, led by UC San Francisco researchers, found that major and healthy volunteers, with lower B12 concentrations, but even in the normal range, showed signs of neurological and cognitive deficiency. These levels were associated with more damage to the white matter of the brain, the nerve fibers that allow communication between areas of the brain, and the tests of the tests associated with the slower cognitive and visual processing speeds, compared to those with B12 higher.
The study published in Neurology annals February 10.
The researchers led by the main author Ari J. Green, MD, of the Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology of UCSF and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, said the results raise questions about the current requirements of B12 and suggest that the recommendations need update.
“Prior studies that defined healthy amounts of B12 may have lost subtle functional manifestations of high or low levels that can affect people without causing open symptoms,” Green said, noting that the clear deficiencies of vitamin are commonly associated with a type of type of anemia. “The review of the deficiency definition of B12 to incorporate functional biomarkers could lead to previous cognitive intervention and prevention.”
Lower B12 correlates with slower processing speeds, brain injuries
In the study, the researchers registered 231 healthy participants without dementia or mild cognitive impairment, whose average age was 71. They were recruited through the study of the Brain aging network for cognitive health (Branch) in UCSF.
Their amounts of blood B12 averaged 414.8 pmol/l, well above the minimum of the USA of 148 pmol/l. Adjusted by factors such as age, sex, education and cardiovascular risks, the researchers analyzed the biologically active component of B12, which provides a more precise measure of the amount of vitamin that the body can use. In cognitive tests, it was discovered that participants with lower active B12 had a slower processing rate, related to a subtle cognitive decrease. Its impact was amplified by the elderly. They also showed significant delays that responded to visual stimuli, indicating slower visual processing speeds and slower general cerebral conductivity.
Magnetic resonances revealed a greater volume of injuries in the white matters of the participants, which may be associated with cognitive deterioration, dementia or stroke.
While study volunteers were older adults, who can have a specific vulnerability to the lowest levels of B12, the co-direct author Alexandra Beaudry-Richard, MSC, said that these lower levels could “affect cognition to a greater extent of what we think above, and can affect a much greater proportion of the population than we believe. ” Beaudry-Richard is completing his doctorate in research and medicine in the Department of Neurology of the UCSF and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa.
“In addition to redefining B12 deficiency, doctors should consider supplementation in older patients with neurological symptoms, even if their levels are within normal limits,” he said. “Ultimately, we need to invest in more research on the underlying biology of insufficiency B12, since it can be a preventable cause of cognitive impairment.”