Okay. You’re starting to show signs of dementia. Has your primary physician ordered a complete blood work-up to see if you may be vitamin B deficient? I believe every doctor needs to start any dementia diagnosis right there. Unfortunately, this is something that many of us––including our doctors—rarely think about. It’s too common for medical professionals to jump to a diagnosis of a dementia-related disease such as Alzheimer’s.
Your doctor should order a complete blood count (CBC) right from the start. One of the abnormalities lab technicians should be on the alert for is macrocytic anemia. This is a condition in which your red blood cells become enlarged, a possible sign of being B-12 deficient. From there, they should zero in on your exact B-12 levels.
Aging alone is a high-risk factor for B-12 deficiency. One reason for this is that 30% to 40% of people over the age of 50 suffer from atrophic gastritis, which damages the cells in your stomach’s lining. Further, this condition can absorb your B-12.
Also, many of us in today’s world have become more health conscious and have changed our diet. People that I truly worry about are those that are vegan. This diet has completely eliminated all of their vitamin B-12 intake. I’m not saying people shouldn’t be vegan, I just would like to see them taking B-12 supplements. This is because it’s critical that we realize the vitamin B family is extremely important for our cognitive health.
In addition, vitamin B-12 is needed in our bodies to maintain a layer of tissue, known as myelin sheath, which insulates our nerve cells.
B-12 is abundant in red meat, poultry, shellfish, eggs and dairy products. So, you can see where I become concerned for those who are vegan.
The toll of being vitamin B-12 deficient may cause more than just cognitive impairment. Other symptoms may include weakness, dizziness, depression, and/or paranoia, just to mention a few. Also, this deficiency can put you at risk for vascular diseases.
If I haven’t convinced you of the importance of the levels of vitamin B-12 in our bodies, maybe this will. An Oxford University study has shown that this Vitamin B family may be able to decrease the amount of brain shrinkage in older adults. The average brain shrinks at the rate of 0.5 percent per year after the age of 60. The brains of those suffering from cognitive impairment shrink twice as fast, and the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s shrinks at an even more alarmingly sizeable rate of 2.5 percent. The study executed at Oxford found that those taking the vitamin supplement had on average slowed such a shrinkage by 30 percent.
Both vitamin B6 and B12 help control the level of homocysteine in our blood. High levels of this substance are linked to brain shrinkage. Yes, vitamin B deficiency by itself can cause dementia; but like everything else in our lives, too much of one thing may not be good for us. Taking more than 200 milligrams a day of B6 can cause the loss of feeling in your upper and lower limbs. These symptoms should, however, reverse themselves once you stop taking the supplement.
It is imperative to converse with your physician before starting any kind of supplement program. There could possibly be complications or other side effects with other prescribed drugs that you may already be taking.
Now, for vitamin B-1: the deficiency of this in some of our systems may be related to Korsakoff syndrome, also known as Alcohol Related Dementia (ARD). After years of abusing high amounts of alcohol, a body will find itself severely depleted of B-1.
Bottom line here—if you’re experiencing signs of dementia, please make sure your doctor does the proper blood screening to make sure vitamin B levels are where they should be. Just imagine! It’s NOT always Alzheimer’s disease.