Vitamins for brain health

Our brain was specially designed for an important job: to take care of the body. Of course, the brain has a plenitude of important functions, but all are there to help keep the body healthy. But something must keep the brain healthy too. Apart from physical and mental exercise, a proper nutrition and the intake of certain vitamins and minerals is the key to a healthy brain.

Can the brain survive without vitamins? The answer is NO. Let’s take, for example, the first vitamin of the B complex, Thiamine.  It is an essential nutrient for the human body, especially for the brain, and low levels of Thiamine can produce serious conditions that, if untreated, can be lethal.

Let’s see what kind of vitamins and minerals can help our brain to function properly.

Vitamin B complex

The “B complex” has a key role in energy production and brain metabolism. Its massive impact on brain health has been discovered even since 1930s, when Honekamp, a German physician, successfully treated schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and epilepsy with yeast and other vitamin B rich nutrients.

Vitamin B complex consists of 8 vitamins, named individually: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 and B12. From these, the most important for the brain are:

-          B1 (Thiamine):irreplaceable for the nervous and muscular systems. Thiamine deficiency can cause Korsakoff’s syndrome (cause neural loss, thalamus damage and generalized cerebral atrophy – amnesia, confabulation, ataxia and even coma), beriberi disease and other neuropathies. Excessive alcohol use can also cause low thiamine levels (in Korsakoff’s syndrome).

-          B3 (Niacin): its main “duty” is to improve HDL cholesterol (“good cholesterol”) levels. This keeps the brain arteries away from atherosclerosis and away from stroke. It also maintains a good cerebral blood-flow, which help us concentrate and think better. Other studies had shown that niacin has a crucial role in Alzheimer’s disease prevention.

-          B6 (pyridoxine):although its main function is not in the realm of the nervous system, a particular attribute makes B6 an important asset for the brain health. This is serotonin – a neurotransmitter that has a great influence on mood and happiness. So, pyridoxine is thought to reduce significantly the symptoms of depression through serotonin production.

-          B9 (folic acid): Dr. Ray Sahelian, a nutrition expert mentioned the vitamin B9 influence on the nervous system in the following statement:"Getting adequate folic acid can make one a little more alert, and improve memory and focus. It helps lower blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine that is known to damage brain cells”.

-          B12 (cobalamin): this vitamin is among the most important nutrients for brain health. It activates the neuronal metabolism and is involved in the myelin sheath formation. Some studies on the older people showed that Cobalamin deficiency can shrink your brain faster and alter your memory. B12 is also important for vegetarians who cannot obtain proper amounts of cobalamin from vegetables (vitamin B12 is found mostly in meat). They have to use supplements to keep their B12 levels optimal.

Vitamin C

There was a myth about vitamin C and the common cold that is currently “busted” by the modern medicine. But modern medicine proved us that Vitamin C, even if it doesn’t have a real influence on us when we getthe flu, has many other important roles on our well-being. On the nervous system, Vitamin C helps producing neurotransmitters like serotonin or dopamine by converting them from certain amino acids. And, like I said previously about pyridoxine, vitamin C can be used on treating depression and other mood issues.

Vitamin D (calciferol)

Recent studies suggested that Vitamin D insufficiency is correlated with an increased risk of several diseases of the central nervous system, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. You can get this vitamin mostly from fish oil and sunlight, but if you are vegetarian, you must use vitamin D supplements in order to maintain a proper level of calciferol in your body.

Vitamin E (tocopherol)

Many think that vitamin E is, along with the B complex, one of the top nutrients responsible for the health of the brain. Let’s point out some of the wonder attributes and roles of tocopherol:

-          reduces the risk of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease

-          anticoagulant action especially on the arteries of the brain

-          improves memory and attention.

Magnesium

It is said that almost 10% of the population is lacking this important mineral. Magnesium takes part in a lot of biochemical processes, especially protein and carbohydrate metabolism, in nerve impulses and in stress management. It also protects the nerve cells from neurotics and the nervous system from depression, anxiety, apathy and headaches (in an article from Psychology Today, Dr. Emily Deans calls it “the original chill pill”).