Interesting article in Science News by Janet Raloff:
Not getting enough vitamin B12 may take a serious toll on the brain. Two new studies of the elderly link impairments of memory and reasoning with an indirect measure of vitamin B12 deficiency. Worse, brain scans reveal that those with signs of insufficient B12 are more likely to have shrinkage of brain tissue, vascular damage and patches of dead brain cells than are people with higher levels of the vitamin.
A third, ongoing study is recording neural changes — a slowing in the electrical signals conveying visual information — among people with B12 deficiency.
Conducted in seniors, mostly in their mid-70s to upper 80s (including a large group in Chicago), all three studies observed adverse changes even in people whose B12 levels in blood fall within the ostensibly normal, healthy range. While blood levels of B12 might have been normal, however, two biochemical markers of B12 deficiency often were not: Except in the visual study, brain problems largely correlated with rising blood concentrations of homocysteine and methylmalonic acid, or MMA, which accumulate in blood when cells of the body receive too little B12.
“The message of this Chicago study is watch your B12. It’s important for the brain,” says David Smith of the University of Oxford in England, whose team has begun investigating whether vitamin supplementation can slow cognitive decline in the elderly.
The new findings point to the apparent importance of brain changes in the absence of overt disease, says hematologist Ralph Carmel of New York Methodist Hospital, who was not involved in any of the new studies. The new data also argue against the common practice of relying exclusively on blood B12 levels to identify deficiency, he says.
In 2009, scientists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago reported results from 516 randomly selected seniors showing that cognitive performance declined faster over a six-year period among those with elevated MMA. All had been taking part in an ongoing study of more than 6,100 men and women begun in 1993. One-third of the seniors, who were tested and surveyed about nutrition every three years, fell into this high MMA category, says Rush nutritionist Christine Tangney.
Now, in the September 27 Neurology, the same researchers report that . . .
Continue reading. Top 10 foods for B12 (and lots more info at the link—this is one link you should click; for example, it notes, “Metformin – often used for type II diabetes, may interfere with vitmain B12 absorption in certain people.”):
#1: Clams, Oysters, and Mussels
#2: Liver
#3: Caviar (Fish Eggs)
#4: Octopus
#5: Fish
#6: Crab and Lobster
#7: Beef
#8: Lamb (Mutton)
#9: Cheese
#10: Eggs
UPDATE: Just had a couple of ounces of whitefish caviar and cooked and ate a pound of mussels (the weight mostly shell, of course). I also got some clams. So far the mussels are the best bet: not that expensive and easy to cook. That’ll be a weekly dish, and of course I already eat an egg a day. Next time I have sushi, I’ll have the tako (octopus) sashimi. Maybe tomorrow. Want to pump up the B12…
UPDATE 2: The clams were quite tasty. They say not to eat one that doesn’t open when steamed—well, duh! What do they think, you’ll chomp down on a crunchy treat? Or swallow it like a bolus? One in fact did not open, and I discarded it. The rest were quite tasty and way more flavorful than the mussels, which were cheaper… but the clams are higher in B12.
Decisions, decisions. But this offers some excellent variety and, being past 50, I suspect it does no harm to make a weekly treat of a lobster tail or oyster stew or the like. Why not?