01.01.11
Nutraceutical: Vitamin B12
Indication: Alzheimer’s disease
Source: Neurology, October 19, 2010;75(16):1408-14.
Research: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between serum levels of homocysteine (tHcy) and holotranscobalamin (holoTC), the active fraction of vitamin B12, and risk of incident Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a sample of Finnish community-dwelling elderly. A dementia-free sample of 271 subjects aged 65-79 years derived from the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE) study was followed up for 7 years to detect incident AD.
Results: During follow-up, 17 cases of Alzheimer’s were identified. For each small increase in homocysteine the risk for Alzheimer’s rose 16%, but with each small increase in vitamin B12, the risk of Alzheimer’s dropped 2%, suggesting that both tHcy and holoTC may be involved in the development of AD. The tHcy-AD link may be partly explained by serum holoTC. As a result, researchers believe the role of holoTC in AD should be further investigated.