F
C U S
O N
R E S E A R C H
New insights into the
protective effects of
B vitamins against dementia
R
esearchers agree that folate and vitamin B12 help cognitive decline,” says Teodoro Bottiglieri, Ph.D., lead researcher
stave off the ravages of dementia associated with at Baylor Research Institute’s Kimberly H. Courtwright and Joseph
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. A body of W. Summers Institute of Metabolic Disease. “We are working
research spanning three decades demonstrates the toward defining the mechanisms that occur when folate is removed
nutrients’ capacity for preserving cognitive function in the from the diet and correcting the progression of neuronal damage
aging brain.
that occurs in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.”
Now, scientists at Baylor
Dementia is a group of
are taking a closer look at
symptoms caused by disthe complex role of B vitaeases such as Alzheimer’s
mins in the battle on cogand Parkinson’s and is
Increased
Decreased
Increased
nitive decline with the
characterized by a marked
Homocysteine
Methylation
P-Tau protein
ambition of developing a
loss of cognitive functionsupplement designed to
ing. An estimated 13.9 perward off dementia’s debilcent of people age 71 and
it at i ng ef fec t s. T he
older in the United States
Damage to
Loss of memory
researchers’ findings, pubhave dementia and the
neurons
and cognitive function
lished in the Journal of
number of people diagNeuroscience, reveal that a
nosed with dementia each
dietary deficiency of B
year is steadily increasing.
vitamins unleashes toxic levels of homocysteine, an amino acid Support for innovative research for the growing population diagthat destroys neurons and vascular cells in the brain. By tracking nosed with Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s could revolutionthe amino acid’s precise pathway of destruction, the researchers ize how these diseases are treated.
studied nerve cell damage as a result of folate deficiency.
According to a study conducted in Dr. Bottiglieri’s laboratory at
“Folate and vitamin B12 deficiency in a person who has an the Institute of Metabolic Disease, folate deficiency not only trigAlzheimer’s or Parkinson’s type pathology causes changes in the gers high levels of harmful homocysteine, but can also interfere with
brain that aggravate the neuropathology and can lead to accelerated an important cellular pathway called “methylation.” Methylation is
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