Vitamin B12: Maximum Brain Support

The mind shuts down without vitamin B12. It might even start shrinking! You need this B vitamins to ensure your brain cells can send messages back and forth quickly, so you have no trouble putting two words together, remembering a friend’s name or staying quick-witted. It’s no wonder that studies, like one from the University of Oxford, repeatedly find that you lose your ability to think, remember and react in direct proportion to your B12 levels. Even happy people tend to tumble into depression when B12 levels are low. Studies show that people with markers for low vitamin B12 status have a more rapid drop-off in mental function at younger ages compared to people with optimal vitamin B12 status. In fact, many researchers speculate that doubling a person’s vitamin B12 levels by taking supplements could slow cognitive decline by one-third or more.

Even people who are tested for vitamin B12 and are found to be in the low-normal range could be deficient, according to a study from the University of Oxford. Tamara knows firsthand how powerful and influence vitamin B12 has on mood. She had battled serious depression for five years despite taking a variety of antidepressant medications. In desperation and at the age of 42 years, she turned to her doctors one more time for help. Routine blood tests had shown she wasn’t anemic or even low in B12 but her doctor decided to put her on supplemental vitamin B12 and folic acid anyway. Within weeks, her depression completely vanished. A year later, she was still blues-free. “I’ve not had a miserable day since”, she adds.

Many studies also find that people living in nursing homes because of memory loss often improve beyond anyone’s wildest dreams when they are given high doses of vitamin B12.

The older you are, the more vitamin B12 you need, with young people needing as little as 2 micrograms a day, while anyone over the age of 50 years needs at least 25 micrograms, maybe more. It would be difficult to get that much from diet alone, and besides, vitamin B12 is another nutrient better absorbed from supplements than from foods. You might even need to take shots instead of pills.

Vitamin B12 requires a substance in the stomach, called Intrinsic Factor, for absorption. Ample stomach acid is needed to trigger intrinsic factor, but acid often decreases as a person ages and definitely decreases when people take antacids or other medications for heartburn. Consequently, risk for vitamin B12 deficiency increases steadily as some people get older. Increased supplemental intake of this vitamin can offset this reduced absorption in many cases, but some people might require vitamin B12 shots, especially if they are on heartburn medications or have low stomach acid.