The new vitamin for your brain 1260x542
7 Mar 2011

The new vitamin for your brain

1 mins to read
In 2009 it was all about fish oil. But I’m not saying that omega is now passé – I take it every day! However, towards the end of 2010 it became clear that scientists are interested in the new kid on the block: vitamin D.


In 2009 it was all about fish oil. But I’m not saying that omega is now passé – I take it every day! However, towards the end of 2010 it became clear that scientists are interested in the new kid on the block: vitamin D.
 
Already well-known for its bone health promoting properties (a feat it achieves by helping the small intestine to absorb calcium from the diet), vitamin D is now being explored in the neuro-world.

“We know there are receptors for vitamin D throughout the central nervous system and in the hippocampus,” Robert J. Przybelski, research scientist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health recently told Scientific American. “We also know vitamin D activates and deactivates enzymes in the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid that are involved in neurotransmitter synthesis and nerve growth.”

According to one study of 3,100 men by the University of Manchester in England, people with lower vitamin D levels showed slower information-processing speed. A link that became stronger in men over 60.

Another study led by neuroscientist David Llewellyn of the University of Cambridge, assessed vitamin D levels in over 1,700 men and women aged 65 or older. He found that the lower the subjects’ vitamin D levels, the worse they performed on a series of mental tests.

If you want to know more about vitamin D and how you can get it in your diet, chat to a Blackmores naturopath for free – visit blackmores.com.au/ask-a-naturopath.

References available on request



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