People who consume foods rich in vitamin B12 could be at lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers analyzed blood samples from more than 270 individuals who showed no evidence of dementia. They tested for levels of vitamin B12 and for levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and then tracked the study participants for seven years.

Each unit increase in vitamin B12 reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 2 percent.

According to CNN:

“The relationship between vitamin B12 and Alzheimer’s risk is ‘complex’ … B12 levels, particularly holotranscobalamin levels, likely play a contributory role.”

Sources: CNN October 18, 2010 Neurology October 19, 2010;

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:
You may not realize it but we are clearly in the middle of an Alzheimer’s epidemic. According to the Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report for 2009, 5.3 million people in the U. S. have the disease, and it has become the sixth leading cause of death in this country.

In the next 20 years it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans. If that turns out to be true, it would then be more prevalent than obesity and diabetes is today!

Can you imagine? The social and economic ramifications of this would be mindboggling. There’s no doubt we must start paying careful attention to this issue now in order to reverse the trend.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is frequently the prelude to Alzheimer’s. MCI currently affects around 16 percent of people over the age of 70, worldwide, and about half of all people diagnosed with MCI deteriorate into Alzheimer’s disease within five years.