Health and Nutrition Info
By Didrik J. Sopler, Ph.D, L.Ac.
09-15-06

B-Vitamins also important for the mind

B- Vitamins and especially B6, B12 and folic acid have been shown to help reduce systemic inflammation. They also reduce homocysteine, a substance which has been shown to be elevated in cardiovascular disease. For these reasons as well as other reasons B-Vitamins have the ability to affect a variety of conditions. It may then be no surprise that B-Vitamins can affect both depression and dementia, even Alzheimer’s disease.

A study carried out at the School of Psychiatry. University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia showed that low folic acid and high homocysteine levels are correlated with depressive symptoms in middle aged individuals (Sachdev PS, et.al. 2005).

Being in the lowest quartile of folic acid was associated with increased depressive symptoms, and being in the lowest quartile of homocysteine was associated with fewer depression symptoms.

Another interesting study used MRI markers of neuropathology (abnormality). The researchers concluded that elevated homocysteine and low folate were associated with radiological markers of neuropathology (Scott TM, et al. 2004). What really was interesting was that no patient was clinically deficient in folate. This made the researchers conclude that it may be important to rethink what defines functionally significant micronutrient deficiency. It means that what we used to think was adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals may actually be too low.

Not only depression, but also memory is affected especially by folic acid. Both elevated plasma homocysteine and low serum folate are independent predictors of the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (Ravaglia G, et al. 2005).

The researchers of another study concluded that their findings suggested that folate deficiency may precede Alzheimer’s disease and also vascular dementia (Quadri P, et al. 2004). These studies point out the importance of ingesting enough folic acid to stay mentally healthy. Deficiency of folic acid is a risk factor for some serious mental disorders and that risk can be substantially reduced by taking folic acid according to this research.

When taking folic acid it is important to ensure that you get the benefits you are supposed to get from it. Not everybody metabolizes folic acid properly. The B-Complex from BioPro, Inc contains for that reason also the metabolite of folic acid to ensure that you get the benefits even if you don’t metabolize folic acid properly.

To get more information on the Vitamin B-Complex and to order log on towww.tissuerecovery.com and click on supplements, or call 1-800-883-1252.

Wishing you the best of health,

Didrik

References:

Quadri P, Fragiacomo C, Pezzati R, Zanda E, Forloni G, Tettamanti M, Lucca U. Homocysteine, folate, and vitamin B-12 in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer disease, and vascular dementia. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Jul; 80(1):114-22

Ravaglia G, Forti P, Maioli F, Martelli M, et al. Homocysteine and folate as risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Sep; 82(3):493-4.

Sachdev PS, Parslow RA, Lux O, et al. Relationship of homocysteine, folic acid and vitamin B12 with depression in a middle-aged community sample. Psychol Med. 2005 Apr;35(4):529-38

Scott TM, Tucker KL, Bhadelia A, Benjamin B, Patz S, et al. Homocysteine and B vitamins relate to brain volume and white-matter changes in geriatric patients with psychiatric disorders. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2004 Nov-Dec; 12(6):631-8.