Can B Vitamins Boost Your Memory?

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults who took vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements for two years had greater improvements on short- and long-term memory tests than adults who did not take the vitamins, according to the results of a new study from Australia.

The benefits were modest, but encouraging, indicating that the vitamins "may have an important role in promoting healthy ageing and mental wellbeing, as well as sustaining good cognitive functioning for longer on a community-wide scale," Janine Walker, the lead author of the study and a researcher at Australian National University, told Reuters Health by email.

The researchers asked more than 700 people, aged 60 to 74 years, to take a daily dose of folic acid and vitamin B12 or fake pills that resembled the vitamins. The study only included people who showed signs of depression, but were not diagnosed with clinical depression.

The vitamin dose included 400 micrograms of folic acid and 100 micrograms of vitamin B12. The participants didn't know which pills they were assigned to take.

"We felt that older people with elevated depressive symptoms were an important cohort to target given evidence that late-life depression is associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment," Walker said.

After 12 months, there seemed to be no difference between the groups in how well the people scored on mental tests, including memory, attention and speed.

Two years on, however, those who took the vitamins showed larger improvements in their scores on the memory tasks.

The difference in the improvements was small, the researchers write in their study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

For instance, on a short term memory test, those who took the fake pills improved their score from about 5.2 to about 5.5 over the two years. Those who took the vitamins increased their test scores from 5.16 to roughly 5.6.

Short term memory is used to dial a number someone has just told you, while long term memory comes into play when you try to call that number a day or week later.

Joshua Miller, a professor at the University of California, Davis, said it's difficult to translate the memory improvements on the tests into real life benefits. He said it's likely that some people had larger memory improvements, while others benefited very little.

"For any given individual, there may or may not be an effect. But on a population level, a small increase in cognitive function can have very real ramifications on the functioning of the population as a whole and on the costs of healthcare." Miller said.

Miller said it's possible that certain subgroups of individuals might be more likely to benefit from folic acid and B12 than others.

"What I believe the next thing we need to do is (study) the group that is most likely to benefit from this," Miller, who did not participate in this research, told Reuters Health.

UNCLEAR HOW VITAMINS MIGHT WORK

Walker said it's not clear yet how adding vitamins might work to boost brain functioning, and not all studies have agreed upon their benefits.

One idea is that the vitamins reduce the body's levels of a molecule called homocysteine, which is linked to cardiovascular disease and poor cognitive function.

The body uses homocysteine to build proteins, but high levels of it in the blood are associated with heart disease -- and heart disease is linked to mental decline.

The thinking goes that lowering homocysteine could perhaps reduce someone's cardiovascular risk, and in turn affect his mental functioning.

A recent test of folic acid's influence on cardiovascular disease, however, found that in people with high homocysteine levels, the vitamin didn't help prevent thickening of the arteries (see Reuters Health report of April 13, 2011).

Walker said it will be important to test whether other groups of people, especially those older than the people who participated in this study, could also benefit from taking the supplements.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/yyx6YW American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online December 14, 2011.

Comments

[Dr Burns]

11:20 AM on 01/12/2012

I guess mom was right, I should always take my vitamins everyday.

[Alchemist65535]

03:40 PM on 01/09/2012

Methyb12 and Metafolin (methylfolate) worked for me when folic acid and cyanocobalamin did not.

[foxbatt211]

12:22 AM on 01/09/2012

They say your hair is the 2nd thing to go. I cant remember the first

[DizzyDancing12]

10:36 PM on 01/08/2012

From my own experience, Vitamin B of any kind is great because it gives me energy and makes me feel awake and alert (and they are water soluble so do not build up in your body)....sounds like caffeine too doesn't it? Hopefully the feeling alert part is long-term. I just always heard to take folic acid while pregnant. I will have to try that too (the folic acid that is).

[frizzlefrap]

09:24 PM on 01/08/2012

girl giving the interview must be related to somebody ...... dull voice ...... not a good interviewer!

[ddanimal]

09:23 PM on 01/08/2012

I expect they got weak results in this study because they used ineffective forms (folic acid and cyanocobalamin) of the vitamins.

The forms to use are methylcobalamin and L-methylfolate.

[ConfuciusSay-]

11:11 PM on 01/08/2012

Agreed : though the pharmaceutical forms work pretty similarly in most people, there are some who would benefit from the better forms.

[lotus88]

07:05 PM on 01/08/2012

Well, it appears they aren't going to HARM you, so why not try them?

[kingbenny]

05:57 PM on 01/08/2012

It cost me a lot of money over the years to destroy my memory.

[huntingtreasures]

05:53 PM on 01/08/2012

I had a sever B12 deficiency could not remember anything set down a drink and it would take 20 minutes to find. I would get lost driving across town. My blood count red cells was way low. I get B12 injections now and I'm doing better but have no concept of time or what day it is. Before the doc figured out what was wrong if I walk across the room I had to rest no pep.

[kranmar]

05:35 PM on 01/08/2012

Went to the store after reading this article but I forgot which vitamin to buy.

[leroycanty]

05:17 PM on 01/08/2012

Plain and simply, just eating whole foods will boost every thing in your body. That mean no process foods.

[drj516]

04:57 PM on 01/08/2012

This is lousy "science" reporting.

700 people, 60 to 74 years, took a daily dose of folic acid and vitamin B12 or fake pills." [Baseline of Treatment vs Placebo] The participants [Single blind (subjects) or Double blind (neither subjects nor experimenters)?] didn't know which pills were assigned.

After 12 months, [Treatment time 1] there were no differences between the groups in how well the people scored on mental tests, including memory, attention and speed.

At two years, [Treatment time 2], those taking vitamins showed larger improvements on scores of memory tasks.

Differences in the improvements were small. [The results weren't expressed as the "Probability" (p) that the groups scores are greater than chance. Without statistics, we only know "Larger vs Smaller improvements," as statements.]

For instance, on a short term memory test, [the building block of long-term memory, which persists over decades, as the article says,] "Short term memory is used to dial a number someone has just told you, while long term memory comes into play when you try to call that number a day or week later."] those taking fake pills improved memory score from 5.2 to 5.5 over two years. Those taking vitamins increased from 5.16 to roughly 5.6. "Joshua Miller, said "...it's difficult to translate... some people had larger improvements, others benefited very little." Similarly, Comments below are more "testimonial," and not "scientifically valid."

[grundoboy]

04:36 PM on 01/08/2012

i like the "fake' pills...wonder if these writers know what a placebo is?

[DrTCH]

03:33 PM on 01/08/2012

Oh, there is one B vitamin which is particularly helpful during cramming for an exam, Can you guess which one? I have found it to boost my short-term memory 100%.

[e-mail]

[DrTCH]

03:33 PM on 01/08/2012

4. The B vitamins work best together, not administered separately. I suggest that the next work be done with triple the dosage of B-complex, and please make note of the drinking status of each participant in both experimental and control groups.

5. In a real-life context, I would want to encourage patients/participants to cut out pretty much all white sugar and food additives, and replace these with fruit and whole grain products, as well as plenty of fresh vegetables. Absolutely critical. And, if you can discipline yourself to do regular vegetable juicing, you would be a champ, as fresh juices contain high levels of vitamins, minerals and enzymes, and are alkalinizing, to boot. Furthermore, foods such as garlic, grapes and berries, sport high levels of antioxidants, along with vitamins and minerals. These are vital to all of us, and most especially those of us in the sixties and up. PEACE

[GOODDOC1]

04:35 PM on 01/08/2012

I wonder why they didn't address the loss of gastric acidity as we age, which limits the Intrinsic Factor, which is necessary for the absorption of B12. I've wondered if taking B12 with C would help as that would decrease the pH. It probably wouldn't help immediately, but maybe with chronic useage? Do you have any research you could point me to? Thanks.

[ConfuciusSay-]

11:22 PM on 01/08/2012

I have no research, just some experience with this problem.

People with stomach ulcers who use proton pump inhibitors all the time can run into the same difficulty- at any age. Heavy drinkers get it too. Some elderly people just lose the ability to make enough acid. And there are a few people who have had surgery to the terminal ilium, and cannot absorb any B12 at all.

By the time I figure this out, it has to be bad enough to create symptoms. Or- nobody walks into the office, as they feel fine.

I solve it with B12 injections, usually as part of a B-complex preparation. Heavy drinkers often also need Thiamine. If you want to go with the Vitamin C idea, you might try soluble preps to drink with the vitamin B.