Vitamin D Helps Maintain Healthy Brain Function
Vitamin D, which comes from exposure to sunlight and from oily fish, is linked to higher mental stability as older people progress in age, according to a new report.
David Lee and colleagues at the University of Manchester studied more than 3,000 European men aged 40-79.
They found that men who had higher levels of vitamin D performed better on memory and information processing tests. The team therefore linked vitamin D to higher cognitive performance.
They also found that the link "was more significant in men aged over 60 years old, although the biological reasons for this remain unclear."
The tests were designed to gauge each participant’s attention and speed of information processing.
"At the population level, we are talking about large numbers of people. If there is a link it could potentially have a significant effect," Lee, whose study appears in the Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, told Reuters. "It is so easy to rectify with supplementation."
"We were able to take into account their educational level, their depression, their levels of physical activity and measures of physical performance," he said.
"When we adjusted for all these other health and lifestyle factors we still found that there was a link between vitamin D and the cognitive outcome."
Researchers are unsure of how vitamin D helps boost brain power, but they theorize that the vitamin could cause an increase in protective hormonal activity in the brain.
Other ideas claim that vitamin D may increase the level of antioxidants in the brain.
People can increase their vitamin D levels with exposure of 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight, or consumption of oily fish.
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