While research has already
established that B vitamin supplements can help slow mental decline in older
people with memory problems, an international team have now found that having
higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in your body could boost the B vitamins'
effect.
The team, from the Universities of
Cape Town, Oslo, Oxford and the UAE, studied more than 250 people with mild
cognitive impairment (MCI) in Oxford. MCI is when brain function is below what
is normally expected for a person's age but is not significant enough to
interfere with daily life. While it is not as serious as dementia, if untreated
it often progresses to become dementia.
Dr Celeste de Jager said: 'We
previously found that B vitamins are able to slow or prevent the atrophy of the
brain and memory decline in people with MCI. This was most effective in those
who had above average blood levels of homocysteine, a factor related to B
vitamin status that may be toxic to the brain. Scientists in our team initially
found that there was a link between Omega-3 levels, homocysteine, and brain
atrophy rates. We wanted to find out whether Omega-3 and B vitamins might
interact to prevent cognitive decline.'
At the start of the study, each
person was given a set of tests to measure their cognition, and had a blood
test to determine the levels of two Omega-3 fatty acids commonly found in oily
fish: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
The participants were split into two
randomly-selected groups, who received either a B-vitamin supplement or a
placebo pill over two years. Their cognitive performance was also measured and
the results compared with the baseline results from the start of the study.
Dr Abderrahim Oulhaj said: 'We found
that for people with low levels of Omega-3, the vitamin supplements had little
to no effect. But for those with high baseline Omega-3 levels, the B vitamins
were very effective in preventing cognitive decline compared to the placebo.
This result complements our previous finding that B vitamins slow the rate of
brain atrophy in MCI only in those with a good Omega-3 level to start with.'
The team also found that levels of
DHA might be more important than levels of EPA, although they caution that more
research must be done to establish whether this is true.
Professor David Smith said: 'The next
stage will be to see whether providing a combination of B vitamins and Omega-3
supplements can slow the conversion from MCI to Alzheimer's disease. This would
be an important step in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. We have high
hopes that this trial would work but funding is not easy to obtain for such
studies.'
Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research
and Development at Alzheimer's Society said: 'These results help us to tease
apart who could benefit from taking B vitamins, suggesting that they might only
improve cognition in people who have high levels of Omega-3 oils in their
blood. Encouragingly, these findings suggest that for some older people a
combination of fish oil supplements and B vitamins may help to improve thinking
and memory.
'As this study shows, the
relationship between nutrition and brain health is complex and we need to see
increased research efforts to help us understand the role that diet and
nutrition can play in reducing a person's risk of dementia.'
The paper, Omega-3 fatty acid status enhances the
prevention of cognitive decline by B vitamins in Mild Cognitive Impairment, is
published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
(doi:10.3233/JAD-150777).
No comments:
Post a Comment