Research appearing in Neuroscience Bulletin (2009;25(4):209–215) examined the relationship between vitamin B12 deficiency and health in elderly patients. Of the 827 patients studied, with an average age of 77 years (none younger than 60), 19.7% were found to be vitamin B12 deficient. Vitamin B12 deficiency was associated with multiple health problems, including neurological symptoms such as unsteadiness in the dark, parkinsonism, and hypopallesthesia. Higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, cerebral ischemia, high blood pressure, and gastrointestinal diseases were also observed in the B12-deficient group.
Research published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences (2009;284(1–2):144–148) evaluated vitamin B12 status in 102 patients with Alzheimer’s disease. At initial testing, 7% were found to be B12 deficient (defined as serum B12 levels below 350 ng/L). At follow-up testing two years later, 22% were found to be deficient. The authors concluded that ongoing testing for vitamin B12 deficiency may help prevent neurologic damage associated with deficiency and improve quality of life. These findings support a strong link between vitamin B12 deficiency and dementia.
Severe vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to pernicious anemia, a form of megaloblastic anemia characterized by abnormally large red blood cells. Importantly, neurological symptoms often appear long before anemia develops. In this group of deficient patients, only 9.8% were found to have megaloblastic anemia.
