STUDY EDUCATION
GO
TURQUOISE
FOR THE
ELDERLY
15 MAY –
15 JUNE
Omega-3, B vitamins, and
slowing the brain's decline
B vitamins can help many older adults with mild cognitive impairment, but only
if they have good levels of omega-3 fatty acids
W
hile research has already established Dr Abderrahim Oulhaj, assistant professor at the
that B vitamin supplements can help UAEU’s Institute of Public Health, said: “We found that
slow mental decline in older people with for people with low levels of omega-3, the vitamin
memory problems, an international team supplements had little to no eff ect. But for those with
has now found that having higher levels of omega-3 fatty high baseline omega-3 levels, the B vitamins were very
acids in your body could boost the B vitamins’ eff ect. eff ective in preventing cognitive decline compared to the
The team, from the Universities of Cape Town (UCT),
placebo. This result complements our previous fi nding
Oslo, Oxford, and the UAE, studied more than 250 people that B vitamins slow the rate of brain atrophy in MCI
with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Oxford. MCI is when only in those with a good omega-3 level to start with.”
brain function is below what is normally expected for a
The team also found that levels of DHA might be
person’s age but is not signifi cant enough to interfere with more important than levels of EPA, although they
daily life. While it is not as serious as dementia, if untreated caution that more research must be done to establish
it often progresses to become dementia. whether this is true.
“We previously found that B vitamins are able to slow
“The next stage will be to see whether providing a
or prevent the atrophy of the brain and memory decline in combination of B vitamins and omega-3 supplements can
people with MCI,” said Dr Celeste de Jager, senior lecturer slow the conversion from MCI to Alzheimer’s disease,” said
at the UCT Division of Geriatric Medicine. “This was most Professor David Smith (Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology
eff ective in those who had above average blood levels of at The Oxford Institute of Population Ageing). “This would be
homocysteine, a factor related to B vitamin status that an important step in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
may be toxic to the brain. Scientists in our team initially We have high hopes that this trial would wor