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Vitamin intake is associated with improved visuospatial and verbal semantic memory in middle-aged individuals

Flitton, Miles; MacDonald, Ian A.; Knight, Helen M.

Vitamin intake is associated with improved visuospatial and verbal semantic memory in middle-aged individuals Thumbnail


Authors

Miles Flitton

Ian A. MacDonald



Abstract

Objectives: Factors maintaining cognitive health are still largely unknown. In particular, the cognitive benefits associated with vitamin intake and vitamin supplementation are disputed.
We investigated self-reported vitamin intake and serum vitamin levels with performance in cognitive factors sensitive to dementia progression in two large middle-aged general population cohorts.

Methods: Survey data was used to assess regular vitamin intake in 4400 NCDS 1958 and 1177 TwinsUK cohort members, and serum homocysteine and B vitamin levels were measured in 675 individuals from the TwinsUK study. Principal component analysis was applied to cognitive test performance from both cohorts resulting in two dementia-sensitive cognitive factors reflecting visuospatial associative memory and verbal semantic memory.

Results: In both cohorts, individuals who reported regular intake of vitamins, particularly B vitamins, showed significantly better performance in visuospatial associative memory and verbal semantic memory (p < 0.001). A significant association was also found between homocysteine levels, vitamin serum concentration and visuospatial associative memory performance which indicated that individuals with high B vitamin and homocysteine levels showed better visuospatial associative memory performance than individuals with low vitamin B levels (p < 0.05).

Discussion: The findings demonstrate that early dementia-sensitive cognitive changes can be identified in middle-aged asymptomatic individuals and that regular vitamin intake is associated with improved cognitive performance. These findings reinforce the potential cognitive benefits of regular vitamin intake, which should be considered as an economically viable therapeutic strategy for maintaining cognitive health.

Citation

Flitton, M., MacDonald, I. A., & Knight, H. M. (2019). Vitamin intake is associated with improved visuospatial and verbal semantic memory in middle-aged individuals. Nutritional Neuroscience, 22(6), 401-408. https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2017.1395550

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 16, 2017
Online Publication Date Nov 3, 2017
Publication Date 2019
Deposit Date Nov 6, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Nutritional Neuroscience
Electronic ISSN 1476-8305
Publisher Maney Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 22
Issue 6
Pages 401-408
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2017.1395550
Keywords Vitamins; Visuospatial associative memory; Verbal semantic memory; Cognitive reserve; Homocysteine
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/892607
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1028415X.2017.1395550

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