B Vitamins for Prevention of Cognitive Decline
Insufficient Evidence to Justify Treatment
- Robert J. Clarke, MD, FRCP;
- Derrick A. Bennett, PhD
- Author Affiliations: Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, England.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- AGING
- ALZHEIMER DISEASE
- COGNITION DISORDERS
- DEMENTIA
- DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
- FOLIC ACID
- HOMOCYSTEINE
- VITAMIN B 6
- VITAMIN B 12
Stroke and dementia are among the most common diseases affecting the brain in older persons and account for most cases of disability requiring nursing care in this age group.1 The incidence of these diseases increases exponentially with age. Consequently, improvements in life expectancy have resulted in a substantial increase in the absolute number of individuals with dementia and cognitive impairment in recent decades. Dementia is characterized by an insidious, slowly progressive memory loss with alteration of higher intellectual function and cognitive abilities. Among the subtypes of dementia, Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia have distinct clinical and pathological features, but these 2 disorders frequently coexist and the combination is associated with a greater severity of cognitive impairment.2
Population-based studies, such as the Rotterdam study,2 have demonstrated that indicators of atherosclerosis were associated with Alzheimer disease and that the prevalence of Alzheimer disease increased with the degree of atherosclerosis. …
