For those of us in the natural health field, any headline stating that B vitamins can help the brain, and be particularly useful for people with Alzheimer’s, certainly wouldn’t be considered ‘new’ or ‘ground-breaking’.  We are repeatedly told by the media and mainstream medicine that vitamins are bad for you and even downright dangerous at dosages higher than the recommended daily allowances (RDA).

That is until a study comes along with such overwhelmingly strong evidence that even the diehards worshipping at the feet of evidence-based medicine (EBM) have to capitulate.  So it is with the ‘new’ and ‘ground-breaking’ study conducted at Oxford University, UK, which found a staggering 53% improvement in 85 patients with brain shrinkage associated with 'mild cognitive impairment' (MCI) which, for many, precedes full-blown dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The drug's active constituents? You have it, the trio of good ol' B vitamins associated with lowering homocysteine: folic acid, B6 and B12.

Brain shrinkage or atrophy is a natural part of ageing, but it is known to be accelerated in people with MCI – a kind of memory loss and forgetfulness – and Alzheimer's.  As with cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s patients tend to also have especially high levels of an amino acid called homocysteine in their blood.  These B vitamins help reduce this age and disease related elevation, and the current research corroborates that high doses of B vitamins (including folic acid) can be particularly effective at lowering homocysteine levels.  The Oxford University study further demonstrated that the participants who had the highest homocysteine levels benefited the most from the treatment with high doses of B vitamins.

The study involved 168 volunteers in the area around Oxford (UK) who suffered MCI. They were divided into a treatment group who were either given the high dose B vitamins (85) or a control group who were given a dummy placebo pill (83).  Statistics show that approximately 50 percent of those with MCI develop Alzheimer’s disease within five years. 

Professor David Smith, pharmacologist and co-author of the research published in the journal PLoS ONE, said the results were "immensely promising" and that "it is a very simple solution: you give someone some vitamins and you protect the brain".

The study is hailed as ‘controversial’ because it dares to suggest that simply taking vitamins can achieve results that have so far evaded the pharmaceutical companies, despite the millions of pounds being spent on experimental dementia drugs.  

But why do we see a seemingly positive study now flood the media, with much the same vigour the negative studies do? 

Let's remember, the positive news has come with a much-repeated rider that this result has only been achieved with ‘very high’ dosages such as those that should only be administered under the supervision of a doctor.  These are vitamins, not drugs!  The researchers have been very keen to keep stating that the dosages used are not what you would find in a typical health food store or pharmacy—perish the thought that consumers may take the initiative and go out and purchase B vitamins in a bid to prevent age-related memory loss!  And the reason for making sure you only take such high dose vitamins when prescribed by the doctor is, as always, that your doctor knows best and there is need for further research on the safety of B vitamins.  Let's not forget that vitamins are among the most well studied constituents of food!

So, ‘they’ tell us, whilst going down to your local health food store and buying folic acid, B6 and B12 is not recommended, the use of a patented pharmaceutical drug comprised of folic acid, B6 and B12, prescribed by your doctor is absolutely fine. Suddenly the EU’s draconian legislative regime for food supplements, combined with the upcoming proposals from the European Commission for potentially restrictive dosages, begins to make a whole lot more sense.

Given that many patents for some of the biggest earners of the pharma industry are due to expire in 2013, you can understand why knee-capping the natural health industry and then producing a range of patented vitamin and mineral ‘drugs’ begins to look like an appealing answer to profits on a downward spiral.

www.anh-europe.org