Vitamin D's benefits to the bone are well known, but what is perhaps more important is its more recently recognized role in the brain. In the December, 2013 issue of the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine researchers at the University of Kentucky report a damaging effect in the brains of rats that consumed vitamin D deficient diets for three to four months.
"Given that vitamin D deficiency is especially widespread among the elderly, we investigated how during aging from middle-age to old-age how low vitamin D affected the oxidative status of the brain," stated lead author Allan Butterfield, who is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky and director of the Free Radical Biology in Cancer Core of the Markey Cancer Center. "Adequate vitamin D serum levels are necessary to prevent free radical damage in brain and subsequent deleterious consequences."
Dr Butterfield and his colleagues divided 27 one-year-old rats to receive diets that provided the same amount of calories but contained low, normal or high amounts of vitamin D. After four to five months on the diets, the animals' brains were examined for markers of oxidative and nitrosative stress.
Rats in the low vitamin D group showed increased nitrosative stress, which damages the cells. They also observed changes in the levels of several brain proteins, three of which are involved in glycolysis (the metabolic breakdown of glucose that releases energy). "These results suggest that dietary vitamin D deficiency contributes to significant nitrosative stress in brain and may promote cognitive decline in middle-aged and elderly adults," the authors conclude.
Dr Butterfield suggests that people get their blood tested to determine their vitamin D levels, and that they consume foods that are high in the vitamin and add vitamin D supplements if needed.
http://www.lef.org/newsletter/2014/0114_Gamma-tocopherol-tocotrienols-protective-against-cognitive-impairment.htm?utm_source=eNewsletter_EZX400E&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Article&utm_content=Button&utm_campaign=2013Wk2-2
