4 Vitamins That Strengthen Brain Power: Maintaining Your Mental Edge as You Age

As we age, it is generally believed that we lose some mental capacity as evidenced by the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and Parkinson disease — typically in the last years of life. So it is not unusual for people to find ways to keep their minds and reasoning abilities sharp. Various methods have been documented to assist in this process including maintaining a healthy diet an maintaining an active lifestyle. Consuming foods that are fresh and free of pesticides, rich in antioxidants, and are rich in vitamins and minerals will help to accomplish your objective.

For those of us hoping to keep our brains fit and healthy well into middle age and beyond, the latest science offers some reassurance. A new study has suggested that foods and even supplements of vitamins, can aid in maintaining brain power as we get older.

The study, which was published in the January  issue of Neurology suggest that as we age, increased levels of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin E in our blood are associated with better mental functioning. Gene L. Bowman, a researcher in neurology at Oregon Health and Science University and a leading researcher,  found that after controlling for age, sex, blood pressure, and body mass index that  people with the highest blood levels of the four vitamins scored higher on the cognitive tests and had larger brain volume than those with the lowest levels.