Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause a dementia that is similiar to Alzheimer's Disease. Vitamin B12 deficiency often goes undetected because the low range lab values are set too low, and one can have B12 deficiency in the absence of other hematologic findings.
More info in B12 Diagnostics. This is an easy base to cover, and I hope everyone with dementia or early Alzheimers diagnosis cover these simple bases because of the possibility of diagnostic confusion.
High-dose vitamin B12 for at-home prevention and reversal of Alzheimer's disease and other diseases - Townsend Letter May 2006
Familial Alzheimer's disease and vitamin B12 deficiency - Age and Ageing July 1994
Vitamin B12: Suprising New Findings - LE Magazine Dec 2000
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B12-deficiency can cause a dementia that looks exactly like Alzheimer’s disease. And Alzheimer’s disease itself is characterized by brain deficiencies of both vitamin B12 and the methylating factor, S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). A new study from Germany correlates B12 deficiency in Alzheimer’s patients with two personality changes—irritability and disturbed behavior.
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Relation of Higher Folate Intake to Lower Risk of Alzheimer Disease in the Elderly
http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/con...stract/64/1/86
Nutrtional Healing on Dementia/Alzheimers:
http://www.nutritional-healing.com.a...FAlzheimer%27s
PubMed abstracts:
It was possible to detect, both in patients with MCI (1.5% and in patients with dementia (3.5%, a non-significant difference), abnormal metabolic values, indicating poorly controlled diabetes, renal failure, hyponatremia, folate or vitamin B12 deficiency and hyperthyroidism, which correction led to clinical improvement. The majority (62.5% of these alterations were previously unknown.
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
The use of laboratory tests in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. PMID: 16988482 Nov 2006
Depending on the biochemical criterion that is used, 5% to more than 20% of older adults have marginal or frank vitamin B12 deficiency.
What is an adequate dose of oral vitamin B12 in older people with poor vitamin B12 status?
PMID: 16958314 Aug 2006
Clinical relevance of low serum vitamin B12 concentrations in older people: the Banbury B12 study. PMID: 16709605 July 2006
These findings suggest that cobalamin deficiency may cause a reversible dementia in elderly patients. This dementia may be differentiated from that of Alzheimer's disease by a thorough neuropsychological evaluation.
Neuropsychology of vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly dementia patients and control subjects. PMID: 15681626 March 2005
Depression, B12 deficiency, and hypothyroidism should be screened for and treated in patients with dementia.
A synopsis of the practice parameters on dementia from the american academy of neurology on the diagnosis of dementia. PMID: 16553467 Jan 2004