Vitamin C Status Linked to Measures of Healthier Brain Aging: Study

Having higher blood concentrations of vitamin C may support healthier brain aging, according to a recent study of more than 2,000 older adults in Japan. The findings were published by researchers from Haurka Nagaya of Hirosaki University in PLOS One.

According to the authors, higher concentrations of vitamin C in the blood were associated with more gray matter volume and connectivity in an important brain network associated with memory and attention. While the findings are observational in nature, they provide evidence of the role of good nutrition in maintaining cognitive health later in life, the authors concluded.

Earlier studies have suggested that people who consume more vitamin C are less likely to experience cognitive impairment, the authors noted. But little research has used blood concentrations of vitamin C as a biomarker against evaluations of physical changes in the brain related to age.

In the present study, researchers analyzed MRI scans and blood plasma samples from 2,044 Japanese adults over the age of 64. They measured the volume of gray matter, white matter, and overall brain size. They examined connectivity in the default mode network, a group of interconnected brain regions involved in attention, autobiographical memory, and other cognitive functions.

Consistently, lower plasma vitamin C levels were associated with reduced grey matter volume and weaker connectivity in the default mode network. The results suggested that maintaining healthy vitamin C levels could potentially help support cognitive function and healthy brain aging, though causality could not be determined. Future studies should measure vitamin C levels repeatedly over time, weigh the influence of other dietary and lifestyle factors, and include participants from a wider range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, the authors concluded.

“Our study demonstrates that higher plasma vitamin C levels are associated with better preserved structural connectivity of the default mode network (DMN), a key brain network involved in cognitive function. The finding generates the exciting hypothesis that a diet rich in vitamin C might play a supportive role in maintaining brain health and mitigating age-related cognitive decline in older adults. What I found most fascinating about this research is that we were able to detect these subtle but significant associations between a single nutritional factor and large-scale brain networks by utilizing a robust, community-based cohort of over 2,000 older adults. It truly highlights the potential impact of our everyday dietary habits on our brain structures.”