The Best Kept Secret for Preventing Dementia

Do you ever misplace your keys?  Forget someone’s name?  Pick up the phone and not remember who you were going to call?  “Senior moments” like these may leave you wondering if they are just the beginning signs of something more serious.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are quite possibly the scariest health threat as you get older. Imagine losing your memories, your ability to think rationally and even your sense of who you are. It’s a truly terrifying prospect!

But there’s one easy thing you can do right now to protect your brain as you age. A recent study in the journal Neurology shows that boosting your blood levels of vitamin B12 can lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.¹

The folks in this particular trial got their B12 through foods like meat, fish and eggs. But you can also get vitamin B12 as part of a B-complex supplement. I’ve found that combining B12-rich foods and supplements is a great way to make sure you’re getting plenty of this important vitamin.

The reason B12 is so effective at keeping the mind sharp is because of its effect on homocysteine. Homocysteine is an amino acid that significantly increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, people with high homocysteine levels in their blood have nearly double the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.²

While this study didn’t measure how much B12 it took to lower homocysteine levels,  the researchers did discover that each mcg. of B12 reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s by 2%! That’s pretty impressive.

But B12 doesn’t act alone in reducing homocysteine. It also works with vitamin B6 and folic acid. These three nutrients help the body create the enzymes it needs to keep homocysteine levels in check.

If you want to keep your brain firing on all cylinders every day of your life, try my 6-step plan for better brain health. It will help keep your brain cells healthy. Plus, it lowers your risk of developing the arterial problems that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

• Boost your Bs. Take the following combination to lower homocysteine levels:

  -  500 mcg. B12
  -  20 mg. B6
  -  800 mcg. folic acid

• Add some fish oil. The DHA and EPA in fish oil protect cell membranes and support brain function throughout life. Take 3,000 to 4,000 mg. daily.
  
  
• Eat a diet rich in folate. Foods like lentils, beans, asparagus, and spinach and other leafy greens all have hefty folate levels.
  
  
• Chow down on curry. Tumeric, a key spice in curry is rich in anti-inflammatory compounds. This may be one reason why the rate of dementia is so low in India, where curry is eaten almost daily. Don’t like curry? Take 500 mg of a tumeric supplement twice a day instead.
  
  
• Get plenty of exercise. Studies show the odds of developing Alzheimer’s is 4 times higher in couch potatoes. So make sure to combine both aerobic and resistance exercise like weight lifting for an hour a day at least 5 times per week.
  
  
• Exercise your brain, too. Stimulate your brain by learning something new, doing crossword puzzles or suduko. Challenging your mind daily stimulates the brain cells and nerve connections. It’s so effective that it can even improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients.³

References:

1. Seshadri S.  Beauty and the beast: B12, homocysteine, and the brain: a bemusing saga! Neurology. 2010;75:1402-1403.
   
   
2. Seshadri S. Plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2002; 346:476-483.
   
   
3. Cassinello Z. Cognitive plasticity in Alzheimer’s disease patients receiving cognitive stimulation programs. Psicothema. 2008;20:432-437.