The latest scientific study pins memory loss from aging to the age of 45.  Here are some ways to prevent early onset dementia like Alzheimer’s disease and reclaim your youth.

45- Is it the new 60?

According a recent study on cognitive decline, the first signs of aging, such as memory loss, begin at the age of 45.  The UK study, which tracked 5,198 men and 2,192 women, suggests that people should become more proactive in preventing Alzheimer’s disease much earlier than earlier expected.

• Participants between the ages of 45-70 submitted to various cognitive testing, including vocabulary, memory, reasoning, and auditory and visual learning abilities.
• Examples of cognitive testing include identifying patterns, recalling short words, naming words from memory beginning with the letter “S,” or animal names.
• Scientists met with study volunteers three times during a 10-year period.
• Results: With the exception of vocabulary, cognitive scores in memory, reasoning, and learning abilities declined in all age groups, beginning at the ages of 45-49, for both men and women.
• For men and women, dementia escalated by the age of 65-70.
• Older males saw a 9.6% decline by age 70, while elderly females of the same age exhibited a 7.4% decline.

Here’s Your Brain on B12 Deficiency- Memory Loss and Aging

Lifestyle changes to prevent memory loss

By making some simple changes in your life, you can avoid the symptoms of premature aging that include short-term memory loss, dementia, fatigue, and hair greying.

Here are some helpful tips:

• Increase intake of vitamins and minerals, including healthy omega-3 oils, vitamin D, vitamin C, and B complex vitamins, particularly vitamin B12, which is proven to aid in cognitive functioning and prevent brain shrinkage associated with dementia.
• Eat low cholesterol, low-fat foods.
• Avoid high fat or processed foods.
• Restrict sodium intake.
• Exercise every day.
• Check your blood pressure.
• Quit smoking.

Brainy People are high on B12, according to Brain Health Study

Prevent vitamin B12 deficiency

Numerous studies prove that vitamin B12 is more than just the energy vitamin- it also is essential for brain health and anti-aging.  Vitamin B12 protects your nervous system, aids in producing red blood cells, builds DNA, and boosts cognitive skills.

• By controlling homocysteine levels, vitamin B12 helps prevent heart attack and stroke.  Scientists have noticed a high correlation between elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood and increased risk for dying of heart failure or stroke.
• Scientific research also indicates a direct relationship between low levels of vitamin B12, reduced brain volume, and decreased cognitive skills, such as loss of short-term memory
• Besides memory loss, other age-related symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include premature hair loss, hair greying, fatigue, difficulty walking, difficulty concentrating, and emotional problems like depression, anxiety, and paranoia.

Read more about B12 deficiency and aging:

How to keep Vitamin B12 Deficiency from Shrinking your Brain

Vitamin B12- How much do you need?

Sources:

Memory Loss May Occur as Early as 40s

Memory loss from aging can start as early as 45: Study

Timing of onset of cognitive decline: results from Whitehall II prospective cohort study- BMJ

Images, from top:

jessica.diamond, woodleywonderworks, Patrick Q

The medical literature has demonstrated a strong correlation between vitamin B12 and depression. Vitamin B12 is naturally found if fish, meat, eggs and chicken. However, some people choose to avoid these foods, and there are those who don’t absorb it from the foods they do eat.

Vitamin B12 affects our nervous system. It is necessary for the breakdown of a toxin in the body, known as homocysteine. Vitamin B12 is also a requisite for the formation of DNA and phospholipids. Phospholipids are fatty acids that make up the membrane surrounding every nerve cell. It becomes quite apparent that a vitamin B12 deficiency can have numerous consequences on the body.

Low vitamin B12 levels in the body can alter the functioning of the brain cells. The nerve cells of the brain affects how we think and feel. A B12 deficiency can lead to depression, dementia, violent behavior, paranoia, schizophrenia-like symptoms and fatigue. Although the presence of low stores of B12 doesn’t cause all cases of mental illness, there is evidence that this condition causes mental illness in some people.

A study done at the National Institute of Aging evaluated a group of physically disabled women over age 65. This study found that women with low blood B12 plasma levels were twice as likely to suffer from depression as their counterparts with normal levels. The research was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, May 2000 issue.

In a second study, Dutch researchers examined 4,000 people for symptoms of depression. Blood tests of all of these patients were taken and charted. They found that those who presented with high homocysteine levels (indicative of a B12 deficiency) had a stronger incidence of depression than those with normal levels. This study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, 2002.

In summary, someone who is suffering from depression or other mental illness should be evaluated for a B12 deficiency.

Vitamin B12 is linked to brain size, and therefore this vitamin may help prevent dementia by maintaining brain volume, according to a study published in Neurology (September 9, 2008).

The study focused on 107 volunteers whose average age was 73 years, ranging from 61 to 87 years old. All participants were required to undergo a physical examination, brain MRI and CT scans. Only people in good physical and mental health were included in this study.

For this study, blood samples were also taken of the volunteers. Tests were done to measure vitamin B12 plasma levels, in addition to levels of homocysteine, folate and methylmalonic acid (MMA). These measurements were taken once a year over the duration of five years.

For all the volunteers, the B12 plasma levels fell within the range of normal.

At the end of the five-year period, the volunteers were again subject to brain scans and memory tests. Subjects who had the most brain loss also had lower concentrations of B12. No correlation was made between brain loss and levels of homocysteine, folate or MMA.

The results of this study demonstrated that those people with lower B12 plasma levels were six times more likely to have a loss of brain volume and a decrease in brain size than those with higher levels. Therefore, the authors of this study have concluded that by increasing the consumption of of vitamin B12 among the elderly can reverse brain shrinkage, and possibly prevent memory loss as well. It is hoped that future clinical trials will determine the affects of vitamin B12 supplementation on brain shrinkage.

In the meantime, the authors of this study would advise the geriatric population to increase their intake of vitamin B12 through meat, fish, milk and fortified cereals.