Category: Nutrition

People with vitamin B12 deficiency were three times more likely to be suffering this problem.

Feeling depressed can be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency, a study finds.

People with a vitamin B12 deficiency are three times more likely to be experiencing ‘melancholic’ depression.

Melancholic depression mostly involves depressed mood.

Some of the other most common symptoms of depression are decreased interest in life or pleasure, energy loss and concentration problems.

The study also found a link between low folate intake and depression.

Folates include vitamin B9, folacin and folic acid.

People with a low intake of folates were 50 percent more likely to be experiencing melancholic depression.

The research included 2,806 Finnish people whose nutritional status and depression symptoms were assessed.

Although vitamin B12 and folates were linked to melancholic depression, the same link was not seen with non-melancholic depression.

Symptoms of non-melancholic depression cluster around anxiety and low self-esteem, with less emphasis on depressed mood.

Dr Jussi Seppälä, the study’s first author, said:

“The findings have practical implications in the care of patients with depressive symptoms.

For example, it may be wise to avoid medication causing weight gain among patients with non-melancholic depression, whereas melancholic depressive symptoms may call for a closer look at the quality of the patient’s diet.”

Boosting B12 and folate intake

Vitamin B12 deficiency is easy to rectify with supplements or by dietary changes.

The body uses vitamin B12 to make red blood cells and to keep the nervous system healthy.

Other common signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include experiencing muscle weakness and being constipated.

Meanwhile, some of the best dietary sources of folates include:

• vegetables,
• fruits,
• liver,
• and whole-grains.

Folate levels are particularly high in chickpeas, yeast extract, lentils and broad beans.

The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (Seppälä et al., 2012).

The brain loses about half a teaspoon of cells each year.

People eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, dairy and fish have bigger brains, research concludes.

The best diet for the brain also had a limited intake of sugary drinks.

Diet could be one useful way of combating the natural shrinkage of the brain with age.

The brain loses around 3.6 millilitres of volume for each year of aging — that’s about half a teaspoon of brain cells.

Dr Meike W. Vernooij, who led the study, said:

“People with greater brain volume have been shown in other studies to have better cognitive abilities, so initiatives that help improve diet quality may be a good strategy to maintain thinking skills in older adults.

More research is needed to confirm these results and to examine the pathways through which diet can affect the brain.”

The Dutch study of 4,213 people asked people about their intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grain products, legumes, nuts, dairy, fish, tea, unsaturated fats and oils of total fats, red and processed meat, sugary beverages, alcohol and salt.

Scans determined their brain volume, white matter lesions and any brain bleeds.

The best diet was similar to the so-called ‘Mediterranean diet‘, which is also rich in fish, vegetables and nuts.

Those with a better diet had, on average, 2 millilitres more brain volume.

There wasn’t one food that was best for the brain, it was about the combination, Dr Vernooij said:

“There are many complex interactions that can occur across different food components and nutrients and according to our research, people who ate a combination of healthier foods had larger brain tissue volumes.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Croll et al., 2018).

Up to 50 percent of the population of the world is deficient in vitamin D.

Daytime sleepiness can be a sign of vitamin D deficiency, research suggests.

People with low levels of vitamin D are likely to wake more during the night and to have less sleep overall.

Vitamin D levels are linked to both sleep quantity and quality.

From October to March many people in northern climes do not get enough vitamin D.

As many as 50 percent of the world’s population is thought to be deficient in vitamin D.

Most people need around 10 micrograms per day, which can also be obtained from supplements.

Other signs of vitamin D deficiency include low mood, muscle fatigue, difficulties with learning and memory, gut problems and headaches.

The vitamin is thought to play a role in regulating serotonin, a neurotransmitter important for mood.

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

Vitamin D is critical to the functioning of the whole body.

Some of the main risk factors for having low vitamin D levels are:

• being female,
• poor dietary habits,
• being older,
• living in northerly areas,
• and less exposure to sunlight.

The study included 81 people who had sleep problems.

Vitamin D levels were found to be lowest in those with the most daytime sleepiness, the results revealed.

Dr David McCarty, the study’s first author, said:

“While we found a significant correlation between vitamin D and sleepiness, the relationship appears to be more complex than we had originally thought.

It’s important to now do a follow-up study and look deeper into this correlation.”

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (McCarthy et al., 2012).

There is a higher risk of premature death for those who are deficient in this vitamin.

Being deficient in vitamin D can lead to serious health issues.

Examples include bone loss, poor immune system, increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, multiple sclerosis, depression, and anxiety.

Further evidence from a University of South Australia study reveals a strong link between low vitamin D levels and increased odds of premature death from any cause including respiratory diseases, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The study also found that the likelihood of early death reduced steeply when vitamin D concentrations increased by 50 nmol/L.

Vitamin D deficiency is identified when a person’s serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) is less than 25 nmol/L.

Our skin absorbs vitamin D by exposure to sunlight — but even with its abundance in Australia, one third of Australian adults are vitamin D deficient.

Mr Joshua Sutherland, the study’s first author, said:

“While severe vitamin D deficiency is rarer in Australia than elsewhere in the world, it can still affect those who have health vulnerabilities, the elderly, and those who do not acquire enough vitamin D from healthy sun exposure and dietary sources.

Our study provides strong evidence for the connection between low levels of vitamin D and mortality, and this is the first study of its kind to also include respiratory disease related mortality as an outcome.

We used a new genetic method to explore and affirm the non-linear relationships that we’ve seen in observational settings, and through this we’ve been able give strong evidence for the connection between low vitamin D status and premature death.

Vitamin D deficiency has been connected with mortality, but as clinical trials have often failed to recruit people with low vitamin D levels — or have been prohibited from including vitamin deficient participants — it’s been challenging to establish causal relationships.”

The research used the records of 307,601 white adults in the UK Biobank study who were between 37 and 73 years old.

The average levels of vitamin D were estimated at 45 nmol/L and vitamin D deficiency was classified as concentrations below 25 nmol/L.

During the 14 years of follow-up, 18,700 of the participants died.

The risk of premature death was increased by 25 percent for those with vitamin D deficiency.

However, when vitamin D concentrations increased to 50 nmol/L, the odds of dying were reduced, especially among people who were severely deficient.

Professor Elina Hyppönen, the study’s senior author, said:

“The take-home message here is simple — the key is in the prevention.

It is not good enough to think about vitamin D deficiency when already facing life-challenging situations, when early action could make all the difference.

It is very important to continue public health efforts to ensure the vulnerable and elderly maintain sufficient vitamin D levels throughout the year.”

Signs of vitamin D deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency exhibits various signs and symptoms.

Sleepiness and fatigue during the day, weight gain, and muscle weakness have all been reported among those who suffer from vitamin D deficiency.

However, all of these symptoms are general and could be related to other conditions.

That is why, if you are worried, it is important to get checked out by a healthcare provider.

Vitamin D is vital for regulating the levels of phosphate and calcium in the body.

These are essential to the bones, teeth and muscles.

The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (Sutherland et al., 2022).

Up to one-in-eight people may have this vitamin deficiency.

Thinking and memory problems can be signs of vitamin B12 deficiency, research finds.

Deficiency in the vitamin has been linked to brain shrinkage with age and even dementia.

Vitamin B12 is crucial to the production of red blood cells and the healthy functioning of brain cells.

Its effect on cognitive decline is likely down to its involvement in in the production of myelin.

Myelin is a material that surrounds neurons (brain cells) and also the connections between them, known as axons.

Fortunately, vitamin B12 deficiency is easy to correct either with supplementation or a change in diet.

Foods high in vitamin B12 include dairy, beef, salmon, eggs and low-fat milk.

Fortified breakfast cereals also contain vitamin B12.

Reviewing the methods of detecting levels of B12 in the body, Dr Georgios Tsiminis and colleagues write:

“Increased levels of vitamin B12 have been shown to reduce the likelihood of older adults transitioning from mild cognitive impairment to dementia and in at least one case may help reverse the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia, as previously shown in a B12 recovery treatment program.

The growing number of studies indicating the significance of the relationship between vitamin B12 and cognitive health cannot be ignored.”

People who may have difficulty getting enough vitamin B12 include vegetarians, older people and those with some digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.

Dr Georgios Tsiminis, the study’s first author, said:

“Vitamin B12 deficiency has been shown to be a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with cognitive decline.

Older adults are particularly at risk of B12 deficiency due to age-related reduction in absorbing vitamin B12 received through their diet.

The study was published in the journal Applied Spectroscopy Reviews (Tsiminis et al., 2019).

Lack of omega-3 fatty acids in the body might be the reason why we are vulnerable to this disease.

Inflammation can be a sign of omega-3 deficiency, research finds.

Consuming oily fish like salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel, herring and fish oil supplements can lower inflammation.

Previous studies have suggested that a high intake of oily fish (fatty fish) can reduce several disorders.

Researchers from the Norwegian University are adding more weight to the importance of omega-3.

They show that omega-3 fatty acids can lower dangerous inflammatory responses in our body.

Our immune system produces inflammation to protect the body from infections like the common cold, throat, ear infections and so on.

But when the inflammation is too strong, this can lead to developing inflammation-related diseases and autoimmune disorders.

Prolonged inflammation results in life-threatening conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease and diabetes-related injuries.

Omega-3 fatty acids are healthy fats that have anti-inflammatory properties, consequently they are able to dampen inflammatory responses in the body.

White blood cells are an important part of our immune system as they can locate foreign particles such as microbes and cancer cells and eat them.

These cells monitor everything in our body and use the information that they gain from different receptors or sensors in order to stimulate inflammatory responses.

The white blood cells ability to manage inflammatory reactions relies on different processes and one is “self-eating”.

Autophagy or “self-eating” is vital for whether a white blood cell is too active or not since it is cleaning out the cells that are damaged and dysfunctional.

Omega-3 appears to change autophagy in white blood cells and can reduce activation of inflammatory reactions.

Omega-3 also reduces the responses related to proteins that are involved in regulating immune system activities.

Therefore, supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids can help patients with different forms of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, meningitis, Alzheimer’s, infectious disease or even jaundice.

The study was published in the journal of Autophagy (Mildenberger et al., 2017).

The study found that 68% were vitamin D deficient.

Chronic headaches could be a sign of vitamin D deficiency, research suggests.

People with low levels of vitamin D are at twice the risk of chronic headaches.

These headaches are also twice as likely to occur in the winter months, when vitamin D levels are at their lowest in the body.

During the winter, less sunshine striking the skin means the body is not able to produce enough vitamin D.

The conclusions come from a Finnish study of 2,601 men.

It found that 68% had deficient vitamin D levels.

The current medications for migraine — painkillers — could be doing more harm than good in some cases.

People are frequently taking the wrong medication, or too much of it, the study’s authors write:

“Primary headaches, including migraine, are among the leading health problems and causes of disability in the modern working population.

Currently, there is a global trend in chronification of migraine and a growing number of cases of medication overuse headache due to improper use and/or overuse of painkillers.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Virtanen et al., 2017).