Vitamin Information Center

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine was established in Oxford as the first of several centers in the UK whose broad aim is to promote evidence-based health care and to provide support and resources to anyone who wants to make use of them.

Elderly people who consume enough meat, fish and milk containing vitamin B12 may help prevent their brains from shrinking and may preserve their memories, Oxford researchers said.

People who had higher vitamin B12 levels were six times less likely to experience brain shrinkage compared with those who had lower levels, according to a study from the university’s Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing in the journal Neurology.

Vitamin B12 is important for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system and the formation of blood. Deficiency of the vitamin is linked to tiredness, irritability and depression as well as decreased mental capacity, concentration and memory. A shrinking brain is associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Simply adjusting our diets to consume more vitamin B12 through eating meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk may be something we can easily do to prevent brain shrinkage and so perhaps save our memory,” said lead Oxford researcher Anna Vogiatzoglou.

The researchers performed brain scans, memory testing and physical examinations on 107 people aged 61-87.