Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Vitamin B12 as Protection for the Aging Brain


 By Jane E. Brody Sept. 6, 2016 - The New York Times
As a woman of a certain age who consumes a well-balanced diet of all the usual food groups, including reasonable amounts of animal protein, I tend to dismiss advice to take a multivitamin supplement. I’ve been told repeatedly by nutrition experts that the overuse of dietary supplements for “nutritional insurance” has given Americans the most expensive urine in the world.
I do take a daily supplement of vitamin D, based on considerable evidence of its multiple health benefits, especially for older people. However, based on advice from the National Academy of Medicine and an examination of accumulating research, I’m prompted to consider also taking a vitamin B12 supplement in hopes of protecting my aging brain.
Animal protein foods — meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs — are the only reliable natural dietary sources of B12, and I do get ample amounts of several in my regular diet. But now at age 75, I wonder whether I’m still able to reap the full benefit of what I ingest.
You see, the ability to absorb B12 naturally present in foods depends on the presence of adequate stomach acid, the enzyme pepsin and a gastric protein called intrinsic factor to release the vitamin from the food protein it is attached to. Only then can the vitamin be absorbed by the small intestine. As people age, acid-producing cells in the stomach may gradually cease to function, a condition called atrophic gastritis.
A century ago, researchers discovered that some people — most likely including Mary Todd Lincoln — had a condition called pernicious anemia, a deficiency of red blood cells ultimately identified as an autoimmune disease that causes a loss of stomach cells needed for B12 absorption. Mrs. Lincoln was known to behave erratically and was ultimately committed to a mental hospital.
“Depression, dementia and mental impairment are often associated with” a deficiency of B12 and its companion B vitamin folate, “especially in the elderly,” Dr. Rajaprabhakaran Rajarethinam, a psychiatrist at Wayne State University School of Medicine, has written.
He described a 66-year-old woman hospitalized with severe depression,psychosis and a loss of energy and interest in life who had extremely low blood levels of B12 and whose symptoms were almost entirely reversed by injections of the vitamin.
European researchers have also shown that giving B12 to people deficient in the vitamin helped protect many of the areas of the brain damaged by Alzheimer’s disease. In a two-year study at the University of Oxford of 270 people older than 70 with mild cognitive impairment and low B12 levels, Dr. Helga Refsum, a professor of nutrition at the University of Oslo, found reduced cerebral atrophy in those treated with high doses of the vitamin.
“A B12 vitamin deficiency as a cause of cognitive issues is more common than we think, especially among the elderly who live alone and don’t eat properly,” Dr. Rajarethinam said.
The academy estimates that between 10 percent and 30 percent of people older than 50 produce too little stomach acid to release B12 from its carrier protein in foods, and as the years advance, the percentage of low-acid producers rises.
But many people do not know they produce inadequate amounts of stomach acid. In fact, evidence from a study of young adults called the Framingham Offspring Study suggests that insufficient absorption of B12 from foods may even be common among adults aged 26 to 49, so the following advice may pertain to them as well.
The academy recommends that adults older than 50 get most of their daily requirement of B12 — 2.4 micrograms for people 14 and older, slightly more for women who are pregnant or nursing — from a synthetic form of the vitamin found in foods fortified with B12 or in a multivitamin supplement. Synthetic B12 is not attached to protein and thus bypasses the need for stomach acid. Given that I eat very few fortified foods, a supplement with B12 is likely to be my best option.
Certain groups besides older people are also at risk of a B12 deficiency. They include vegetarians and vegans who consume little or no animal foods; people with disorders of the stomach and small intestine likeceliac disease and Crohn’s disease; chronic users of proton-pump inhibitors to control acid reflux; and people whose digestive systems were surgically reduced for weight-loss or treatment for cancer orulcerative colitis.
Among those most likely to be B12 deficient are the older patients innursing homes whose diets are limited, and this deficiency may account in part for the symptoms of cognitive dysfunction so common among nursing home residents.
While a B12 deficiency can take years to develop, encroaching symptoms can be distressing and eventually devastating. It can also be challenging to link such symptoms to a nutrient deficiency.
In an online posting in July, David G. Schardt, the senior nutritionist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, noted that symptoms of B12 deficiency include fatigue, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, muscle weakness and loss of reflexes, which may progress to confusion, depression, memory loss and dementia as the deficiency grows more severe.
Early symptoms can be reversed by treatment with high doses of B12, usually given by injection. But symptoms related to nerve damage and dementia are more likely to be permanent. Thus, it is especially important for people at risk of a B12 deficiency to have their blood tested for it periodically. For example, experts at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., suggest that chronic users of proton-pump inhibitors should have their B12 level tested every two years.

Vegetarians and vegans need not despair. In addition to B12 supplements, various commercially prepared plant-based foods, like some breakfast cereals, nondairy milks and soy products and one type of nutritional yeast, are fortified with synthetic B12. The Vegan Society recommends eating two to three servings a day of fortified foods to get at least three micrograms of B12.
However, Dr. Ralph Carmel, a retired hematologist now affiliated with New York University who studied the effects of B12 for decades, cautions against taking megadoses of the vitamin. He said in an interview that too often, “People who really need B12 don’t get it, and those who don’t need it, like athletes, often take huge doses — 2,000 or 5,000 micrograms a day. We don’t know what such doses can do in the long run. If an older person has low-ish B12 levels, I don’t object to taking 500 or 1,000 micrograms a day, but 5,000 is ridiculous.”

8 comments:

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    1. I am deeply concerned about the still increase in population of people living with HSV, HIV, CANCERS, HEPATITIS, STROKES in our society today because of ignorance, to be Frank all this big names are grammars. I saw comments of people DR UTU helped get rid of their diseases, with the increase in population of people living with various diseases and myself as a beneficiary to DR UTU traditional cure I thought I too should reach the world via comment. Many People believed traditional herbs are so primitive and some are even shy to purchase it in public. Some went as far as trashing the legendary name of herbal medicine hiding its numerous advantages and let publicly it disadvantage and yet makes it look big, all this are just for pharmaceutical gain. All pharmaceutical cure are derived from existing traditional herbal cure from ages.
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  2. I am bold enough among many others to state that there is now a potent cure to this sickness but many are unaware of it. I discovered that I was infected with the virus 3 months ago, after a medical check-up. My doctor told me and I was shocked, confused and felt like my world has crumbled. I was dying slowly due to the announcement of my medical practitioner but he assured me that I could leave a normal life if I took my medications (as there was no medically known cure to Herpes). I went from churches to churches but soon found that my case needed urgent attention as I was growing lean due to fear of dying anytime soon. In a bid to look for a lasting solution to my predicament, I sought for solutions from the herbal world. I went online and searched for every powerful trado-medical practitioner that I could severe, cos I heard that the African Herbs had a cure to the Herpes syndrome. It was after a little time searching the web that I came across one Dr Itua(A powerful African Herbal Doctor), who offered to help me at a monetary fee. I had to comply as this was my final bus-stop to receiving a perfect healing. My last resolve was to take my life by myself, should this plan fail. At last it worked out well. He gave me some steps to follow and I meticulously carried out all his instructions. Last month, to be precise, I went back to the hospital to conduct another test and to my amazement, the results showed that negative,Dr Itua Can As Well Cure The Following Desease…Cancer,Hiv,Herpes, Hepatitis B,Liver Inflammatory,Diabetis,Fribroid,,Non Hodgkin Lymphoma,Skin Cancer,Uterine Cancer,Prostate Cancer Dercum,Infertility,fibromyalgia,Get Your Ex Back,Als,SYPHILLIS,Genetic disease,Epilepsy, Parkinson's disease..You can free yourself of this Herpes virus by consulting this great African Herbal Doctor via this e-mail: drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com or call and whatsapp him on +2348149277967 He will help you and his herb medication is sure. he has the cure on all disease .You can talk to me on INSTAGRAM..tashamoore219....

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  4. I am deeply concerned about the still increase in population of people living with HSV, HIV, CANCERS, HEPATITIS, STROKES in our society today because of ignorance, to be Frank all this big names are grammars. I saw comments of people DR UTU helped get rid of their diseases, with the increase in population of people living with various diseases and myself as a beneficiary to DR UTU traditional cure I thought I too should reach the world via comment. Many People believed traditional herbs are so primitive and some are even shy to purchase it in public. Some went as far as trashing the legendary name of herbal medicine hiding its numerous advantages and let publicly it disadvantage and yet makes it look big, all this are just for pharmaceutical gain. All pharmaceutical cure are derived from existing traditional herbal cure from ages.
    Yes! I'm here to tell the world the actual FACT! which is; there is herbal cure for herpes, Ebola, HIV, cancers, hepatitis, ulcers, asthma, pile, diabetes and many big names of diseases. all my career I've lived my life believing and making research on this, till I confirmed it four years ago. Since four years ago and till today I still say yes! That among many real traditional herbalist Dr Nze Utu Njoku @ (drutuherbalcure) cures this diseases using African traditional herbs. After he cured me four years ago of genital herpes, ever since then I worked with him distance never a barrier, I'm a living witness to this. And I have directed both genital and oral herpes patients to him and they are permanently cured. I'm Ethan Oliver from Australia and also a herbal dealer and lover. I'm also a researcher on herbs for good health. Which also include Africa traditional herbal treatment, I support Herbal treatment, cure and vaccines. My view is based on my extensive research over a very long period of time, and my conclusion is, there is cure to all natural diseases including HSV, HIV, CANCERS, DIABETES, using the right medications with the right herbalist. Are you herpes positive and permanently want get rid of this disease or any of this big name diseases don't be scared to save yourself, contact Dr Utu for permanent herbal cure. Be bold and smart Don't be fooled by selfish people who say, cure is impossible.
    Dr UTU e-mail , 'drutuherbalcure@gmail.com'

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm 15 years old. I was born with HIV my mother passed away because of the HIV infection And I regret why i never met Dr Itua he could have cured my mum for me because as a single mother it was very hard for my mother I came across Dr itua healing words online about how he cure different disease in different races diseases like HIV/Aids Herpes,Parkison,Asthma,Copd,Epilepsy,Shingles,Cold Sore,Infertility, Chronic Fatigues Syndrome,Fibromyalgia, Diabetes Hepatitis even Cancer I was so excited but frighten at same time because I haven't come across such thing article online then I contacted Dr Itua on Mail drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com I also chat with him on what's app +2348149277967 he tells me how it works then I tell him I want to proceed I paid him so swiftly Colorado post office I receive my herbal medicine within 4/5 working days he gave me guild lines to follow and here am I living healthy again can imagine how god use men to manifest his works am I writing in all articles online to spread the god work of Dr Itua Herbal Medicine,He's a Great Man.

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  6. Most prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas, cancers that arise in glandular cells of the prostate’s epithelial tissue. Prostate cancers usually progress slowly and produce no symptoms in the initial stages. Eventually, the tumor may enlarge like mine use too, the prostate gland, pressing on the urethra and causing painful or frequent urination and blood in the urine. So I was so uncomfortable with this prostate cancer diseases then I decided to do online search on how to cure cancer because I well have read a lot about herbal medicine,I came across a lot of testimony how Dr Itua cure HIV/herpes then Cancer was listed below the comment.with courage I contacted Dr Itua and he sent me his herbal medicine through Courier service then I was asked to pick it up at my post office which i quickly did. I contacted Dr Itua that i have received my herbal medicine so he instructs me on how to drink it for three weeks and that is how Dr Itua Herbal Medicine cure my prostate Cancer, The treatment takes three weeks and I was cured completely. Dr Itua is a god sent and I thank him every day of my life. Contact him now On:Email:drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com/Whatsapp:+2348149277967.
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  7. Herpes Finally Gone, thanks to Dr. Utu for his Herbal Treatment.
    I had a sudden onset of cold sores and a new one was appearing each day. I was on primary immunosuppressant I noticed my body just can't fight the virus on its own. After five days of treatment and no success I suspected herpes I went for test and it was confirmed. God was my strength I met a doctor for treatment. He gave me Dr Utu's contact. I contacted him immediately, This medication was far amazing that within 24-48 hrs the blisters were crusting over. The swelling and redness was decreasing as well. I was on four weeks herpes medication which I completed before going for test. I went for herpes test and then again back to my doctor who confirmed me herpes negative it was really like a dream. What a relief! Feel Free to contact Dr Utu Email:- drutuherbalcure@gmail.com OR WhatsApp :- +2347032718477

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