Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for your brain- not only is it effective in treating memory loss caused by old age, but taking vitamin B12 supplements also boosts thinking skills like memory retention, reasoning, mental focus, and decision making.
As you age, you lose the ability to digest vitamin B12 naturally from food sources. As the digestive system gradually slows down, likewise, so does production of digestive enzymes needed in order to break down crucial vitamins and minerals. Lack of the intrinsic factor enzyme, which is produced in the stomach, causes vitamin B12 malabsorption, which in turn leads to symptoms like short-term memory loss, “brain fog,” depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. To treat memory loss caused by malabsorption, you will need to stick to a strict regimen of vitamin B12 supplements.
Sometimes, memory loss is a sign of hypoxemia, or insufficient oxygen in the blood. Vitamin B12 is responsible for maintaining production of healthy red blood cells, which are essential for supplying oxygen to all the cells in your body, including your brain. When vitamin B12 levels fall, so do oxygen levels. Over time, dangerously depleted oxygen causes symptoms like poor memory, dizziness, disorientation, exhaustion, and distractedness. Only intense supplementation can treat memory loss and other signs of cognitive decline caused by vitamin B12 deficiency.
In addition to preserving red blood cells, vitamin B12 also enhances cognitive functioning. In several scientific studies on elderly individuals suffering from memory loss caused dementia, researches noted dramatically favorable results among senior citizens who had normal vitamin B12 levels. MRI scans also supported their findings, reflecting healthier brain mass where vitamin B12 levels were normal.
Treating memory loss caused by vitamin B12 malabsorption can be tricky- if you cannot digest vitamin B12 properly from foods like beef, chicken, and fish, then you won’t be able to digest it from dietary supplements, either. In order to get your vitamin B12 levels- and memory- back to normal, you must bypass the digestive system entirely and dispense B12 directly into the bloodstream.
Most doctors will give you the option of receiving regular B12 shots on a monthly basis, or taking sublingual vitamin B12 tablets several times per day. However, other forms of over-the-counter (OTC) vitamin B12 supplements are equally effective, as well, many of which are less irritating, more convenient, and inexpensive.