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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookMELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.
Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.
The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.
When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.
Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk.
Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories – was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.
And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%.
Comments
First of all, the headline the author chose for that article is completely misleading and irresponsible. >:( Veggies do NOT shrink the brain. According to what is written of the study, a deficiency in vitamin B12 (which isn’t really even a vitamin) is what seems to have led to brain shrinkage in some of the test subjects… along with alcohol and obesity apparently . Since vitamin B12 is more readily available in meat and animal products than plants foods, the author twisted the result findings to read as if veggies, themselves, cause shrinkage, which is not true. Instead of reading that veggies cause brain shrinkage, it should be informing people that the results showed a deficiency in B12 can lead to brain shrinkage, therefor veg*ns (vegans and vegetarians) should consider taking a B12 supplement or incorporate B12 foods into their diet, possibly sea veggies, nutrional yeast, and unwashed, organic produce if from a trusted source. THAT is what it should have read if it had been true and accurate reporting and not been contaminated with bias.
Without seeing the actual test itself, it’s hard to know what was truly taken into consideration also. What other possibly contributing factors did each of the whole 107 ( *sarcasm, since that really isn’t very many people) test subjects have? It could be the lack in B12, or it could possibly be something else, too. Hard to tell with such little info.