Veggies and the Shrinking Brain

Vitamin B-12 deficiency could lead to a loss of brain volume - what does it mean for vegetarians and vegans?

By Nina Yun
CTW Features

Vegans and vegetarians beware - your brain is shrinking. At least that's what multiple media reports are warning following a recent study on vitamin B-12 conducted by Oxford University.

The study found that low levels of vitamin B-12 could lead to a loss of brain volume in their study participants: Self-caring men and women older than 60 years of age. The study involved 107 healthy people, ages 61 to 87, who were self-caring. MRI scans and cognitive tests were used to measure brain volume and blood tests were used to assess vitamin B-12 levels in study participants once a year for five years. All of those in the study had normal vitamin B-12 levels and did not suffer from cognitive impairment, researchers said.

At the end of the study, researchers found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin B-12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage, confirming a link between brain atrophy and vitamin B-12 deficiency made in earlier research.

According to Dr. Anna Vogiatzoglou, lead researcher and registered dietician, the study did not investigate if vitamin B-12 supplements would slow the rate of brain volume loss, however, researchers started working on an ongoing trial three years ago that will answer this question in 2009.

Until then, Vogiatzoglou says a varied diet should provide enough vitamin B-12 to prevent deficiency in most individuals 50 years of age and younger. But nevertheless, nutritional deficiency can occur in specific populations like people over the age of 50, strict vegetarians and women planning to become pregnant, who all should take a multivitamin tablet daily or eat fortified breakfast cereal to ensure a sufficient intake of vitamin B-12.

"With several morbidities, such as cognitive decline, associated with low-normal B12 status it is important to establish whether dietary interventions can increase B-12 status throughout the 'normal' range," Vogiatzoglou says.

According to the National Institutes of Health, symptoms of deficiency include anemia, fatigue, weakness, constipation, weight loss, depression, confusion and dementia. As most of these symptoms are general, a simple blood test can determine whether or not you are deficient in vitamin B-12.

Vogiatzoglou says that the study did not investigate on whether the participants were vegetarians or vegans nor did they concentrate on a non-animal product diet and its affect on brain volume. "This population [vegans and vegetarians] may have a greater risk for B12 deficiency and therefore possibly a higher risk of brain atrophy and cognitive decline," Vogiatzoglou says. "The connection might be plausible but not related to our study."

According to Rory Freedman, co-author of the vegan manifesto, "Skinny Bitch" (Running Press, 2005), vegans and vegetarians are used to the media misreporting on their lifestyle.

"Vegan and vegetarian diets are going to be suffering, malnourished and now they're brains are shrinking," Freedman says. "None of these things are true. Vegan and vegetarian diets are the healthiest ways for you to be eating."

According to Freedman, a non-meat and non-animal-product diet has many health benefits. Some benefits are a lower risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.

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