A study reveals how six simple food additions could dramatically lower your dementia risk.
Levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in northern latitudes.
Levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in northern latitudes.
Depression symptoms like energy loss, concentration problems and lack of pleasure can be signs of vitamin D deficiency, research finds.
Around half of the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D.
Most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.
That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in northern latitudes.
The study included 1,282 older people, some of whom were depressed.
The results showed that blood vitamin D levels were 14% lower in those with both minor and major depression.
The study’s authors write:
“Underlying causes of vitamin D deficiency such as less sun exposure as a result of decreased outdoor activity, different housing or clothing habits and decreased vitamin intake may be secondary to depression, but depression may also be the consequence of poor vitamin D status.
Moreover, poor vitamin D status causes an increase in serum parathyroid hormone levels.”
The scientists found that almost half the people in the study were deficient in vitamin D.
The authors write:
“…38.8 percent of men and 56.9 percent of women in our community-based cohort had an insufficient vitamin D status.”
Vitamin D is found in oily fish, egg yolks, fortified cereals and some margarine spreads.
Most people need around 10 micrograms per day, which can also be obtained from supplements.
The study was published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry (Hoogendijk et al., 2008).
Up to one-quarter of people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Up to one-quarter of people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Anxiety and hallucinations can be signs of a serious vitamin B12 deficiency.
These are not the only psychological symptoms that have been linked to vitamin B12 deficiency.
Depression and memory problems have also been linked to a deficiency in this vital vitamin.
Among older adults, up to one-quarter of people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
However, the level of deficiency among the general population is probably closer to one-in-ten.
Along with seniors, other people who may have difficulty getting enough vitamin B12 include vegetarians and those with some digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.
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.
Vitamin B12 levels can be boosted through supplementation or by eating foods such as dairy, liver, salmon and eggs.
Fortified breakfast cereals also contain vitamin B12.
The conclusions come from a study of 1,079 seniors in Germany.
The researchers found that 27 percent had a vitamin B12 deficiency.
It also found that more than half were deficient in vitamin D.
Dr. Barbara Thorand, study co-author, said:
“Our study also shows that regular intake of vitamin-containing supplements goes along with improved levels of the respective vitamins.
However, vitamin-containing supplements are not a universal remedy, and particularly older people should watch out for maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet.”
The study was published in the journal Nutrients (Conzade et al., 2017).
Over 1 billion people worldwide have a vitamin D deficiency.
Over 1 billion people worldwide have a vitamin D deficiency.
Difficulties with memory and learning are signs of vitamin D deficiency, research finds.
Vitamin D deficiency is even linked to disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.
Deficiency in the vitamin affects critical structures in the hippocampus, an area of the brain important in memory and learning.
Dr Thomas Burne, study co-author, said:
“Over a billion people worldwide are affected by vitamin D deficiency, and there is a well-established link between vitamin D deficiency and impaired cognition.
Unfortunately, exactly how vitamin D influences brain structure and function is not well understood, so it has remained unclear why deficiency causes problems.”
For the study, researchers removed vitamin D from the diets of mice for 20 weeks.
The mice clearly showed problems with learning and memory compared to a control group, who were fed sufficient levels of vitamin D.
The researchers found that vitamin D is important in keeping perineuronal nets in the hippocampus stable.
Dr Burne explained:
“These nets form a strong, supportive mesh around certain neurons, and in doing so they stabilise the contacts these cells make with other neurons.
As neurons in the hippocampus lose their supportive perineuronal nets, they have trouble maintaining connections, and this ultimately leads to a loss of cognitive function.”
The hippocampus is a particularly active part of the brain, which may be why it is affected by vitamin D deficiency early on, said Dr Burne:
“It’s like the canary in the coalmine—it might fail first because its high energy requirement makes it more sensitive to the depletion of essential nutrients like vitamin D.
Intriguingly, the right side of the hippocampus was more affected by vitamin D deficiency than the left side.”
The damage to these perineuronal nets may help to explain the memory problems that are a symptom of schizophrenia.
Dr Burne said:
“The next step is to test this new hypothesis on the link between vitamin D deficiency, perineuronal nets and cognition.
We are also particularly excited to have discovered these nets can change in adult mice.
I’m hoping that because they’re dynamic there is a chance that we can rebuild them, and that could set the stage for new treatments.”
The study was published in the journal Brain Structure and Function (Al-Amin et al., 2019).
The diet causes lower intelligence and 50 percent more laziness.
The diet causes lower intelligence and 50 percent more laziness.
High-fat foods can reduce intelligence in just 9 days, research finds.
Cognitive performance reduced by 20 percent in just over a week after eating a high-fat diet.
The study on rats fed them a diet equivalent to human junk food.
After nine days, not only was their cognitive performance affected, but their physical performance was reduced by 50 percent.
The short-term effects of a high-fat diet are startling, the researchers say.
A previous study has found a high-fat diet can reduce cognitive performance in humans as well.
Dr Andrew Murray, the study’s first author, said:
“We found that rats, when switched to a high-fat diet from their standard low-fat feed, showed a surprisingly quick reduction in their physical performance.
After just nine days, they were only able to run 50 per cent as far on a treadmill as those that remained on the low-fat feed.”
The conclusions come from a study of rats who were initially fed on a standard low-fat diet.
Half were then switched to a high-fat diet.
Dr Andrew Murray explained how these diets translate to what humans eat:
“With the standard feed, 7.5 per cent of the calories come from fat.
That’s a pretty low-fat diet, much like humans eating nothing but muesli.
The high-fat diet, in which 55 per cent of the calories came from fat, sounds high but it’s actually not extraordinarily high by human standards.
A junk food diet would come close to that.”
The results showed that after nine days the rats fed on a high-fat diet made 20 percent more errors when learning to navigate a maze.
They were also running 50 percent less far.
The researchers also found that the rats’ hearts were enlarged with the increased effort of pumping blood around their bodies.
Professor Kieran Clarke, study co-author, said:
“These are startling results.
It shows that high-fat feeding even over short periods of time can markedly affect gene expression, metabolism and physical performance.”
Professor Jeremy Pearson said:
“In little more than a week, a change in diet appears to have made the rats’ hearts much less efficient.
We look forward to the results of the equivalent studies in human volunteers, which should tell us more about the short-term effects of high-fat foods on our hearts.
We already know that to protect our heart health in the long-term, we should cut down on foods high in saturated fat.”
The study was published in The FASEB Journal (Murray et al., 2009).
Those that adhered to this diet had a 33 percent reduced chance of developing depression.
Those that adhered to this diet had a 33 percent reduced chance of developing depression.
A diet rich in vegetables, nuts, fruits and fish could lower depression risk by up to a third, research suggests.
The results come from studies on tens of thousands of people around the world.
The so-called ‘Mediterranean diet’ is also linked to reduced inflammation in the body.
Anti-inflammatory foods include olive oil, legumes, and many other foods rich in plant fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Foods that increase inflammation in the body, such as sugar and saturated fats, were linked to higher depression risk.
Dr Camille Lassale, the study’s lead author, said:
“There is compelling evidence to show that there is a relationship between the quality of your diet and your mental health.
This relationship goes beyond the effect of diet on your body size or other aspects of health that can in turn affect your mood.”
The results come from an analysis of 41 different studies.
Of these, four examined the link between depression and diet in 36,556 people.
The results showed that those that adhered to the Mediterranean diet more closely had a 33% reduced chance of developing depression than those who shunned it.
Five of the studies showed that eating foods high in saturated fat, sugar and processed foods was linked to a higher risk of depression.
Dr Lassale said:
“A pro-inflammatory diet can induce systemic inflammation, and this can directly increase the risk for depression.
There is also emerging evidence that shows that the relationship between the gut and brain plays a key role in mental health and that this axis is modulated by gastrointestinal bacteria, which can be modified by our diet.”
Dr Tasnime Akbaraly, study co-author, said:
“By showing that an adherence to healthy dietary patterns is associated with a reduced risk of depressive disorders, we contribute to the growing body of evidence regarding the importance of our daily diets to our mental and brain health.
Added to recent randomised trials showing beneficial effects of dietary improvement on depression outcomes, there are now strong arguments in favour of regarding diet as mainstream in psychiatric medicine.”
The study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry (Lassale et al., 2018).
These nutrients are essential to mental and physical health, but billions of people are deficient in them.
Deficiency in this vitamin is very common.
Deficiency in this vitamin is very common.
Higher vitamin D levels during pregnancy are linked to higher IQ among children, research finds.
Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency is common in the general population and especially among Black people.
Around 80 percent of Black pregnant women may be deficient in vitamin D.
Ms Melissa Melough, the study’s first author, explains:
“Melanin pigment protects the skin against sun damage, but by blocking UV rays, melanin also reduces vitamin D production in the skin.
Because of this, we weren’t surprised to see high rates of vitamin D deficiency among Black pregnant women in our study.
Even though many pregnant women take a prenatal vitamin, this may not correct an existing vitamin D deficiency.
I hope our work brings greater awareness to this problem, shows the long-lasting implications of prenatal vitamin D for the child and their neurocognitive development, and highlights that there are certain groups providers should be paying closer attention to.
Widespread testing of vitamin D levels is not generally recommended, but I think health care providers should be looking out for those who are at higher risk, including Black women.”
The study included over 1,500 women and their children, who were tracked over five years.
The results showed that children had higher IQs at 4-6 years old when their mothers had higher vitamin D levels during pregnancy.
Ms Melough said:
“Vitamin D deficiency is quite prevalent.
The good news is there is a relatively easy solution. It can be difficult to get adequate vitamin D through diet, and not everyone can make up for this gap through sun exposure, so a good solution is to take a supplement.”
The recommended daily intake for vitamin D is 600 IU.
The average intake in the US is just 200 IU, with the remainder required from exposure to the sun.
Unfortunately, most people do not get enough exposure to the sun, especially in the winter months.
Foods that contain high levels of vitamin D include cow’s milk, breakfast cereals, fatty fish and eggs.
Ms Melough said:
“I want people to know that it’s a common problem and can affect children’s development.
Vitamin D deficiency can occur even if you eat a healthy diet.
Sometimes it’s related to our lifestyles, skin pigmentation or other factors outside of our control.”
The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition (Melough et al., 2020).
This type of fat increases neuroinflammation in the brain and causes anxiety.
Around half the world’s population are thought to have an insufficiency of this vitamin.
Around half the world’s population are thought to have an insufficiency of this vitamin.
A triple dose of vitamin D3 supplementation in the first two years of life reduces the chance of mental health problems later on by around 50 percent, a high-quality experiment finds.
Infants who were given 30 µg of vitamin D daily, which is three times the recommended dose, were only half as likely to have internalising problems by age 6-8.
Internalising problems are those in which a person keeps their problems to themselves, including depression, anxiety, loneliness and withdrawal.
Dr Samuel Sandboge, the study’s first author, said:
“Our results suggest that a higher dose of vitamin D3 supplementation during the first years of life may reduce the risk of internalizing psychiatric symptoms in late preschool and early school age.”
The randomised controlled trial, which was carried out in Finland, was inspired by the link found between low childhood vitamin D levels and mental health problems.
Almost 350 children were given either a dose of 10 µg or 30 µg of vitamin D from age 2 weeks until 2-years-old.
The results showed that at 6- to 8-years-old, almost 12 percent of children given 10 µg had significant internalising problems.
In the 30 µg group, though, this figure was under 6 percent.
No differences were seen in the number of externalising problems.
Externalising disorders include ADHD and conduct disorder.
Later in life externalising disorders include substance abuse, antisocial personality disorders and even psychopathy.
Dr Samuel Sandboge warned that the study has drawbacks:
“The results and their potential implications are interesting, but further research is needed to confirm the results.
In the interpretation of the results, we must note, among other things, that we studied the psychiatric symptoms only as parent-reported.
Furthermore, the participants of the study were children with Nordic ancestry living in Finland who had good levels of vitamin D.”
Around half the world’s population are thought to have an insufficiency of vitamin D, and 10 percent are deficient.
Vitamin D plays an important role in the development of the brain.
It is notable that a rise in autism and ADHD rates has happened at a time when there have been significant drops in average levels of vitamin D.
The study was published in JAMA Network Open (Sandboge et al., 2023).
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