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What Do Aging and Poor Digestion Have in Common? Avoid Vitamin B Deficiencies and Cognitive Decline!

Taking a trip down memory lane during our golden years should be a joyful experience for all of us! Begin making the investment into your future happiness and health today by learning the right foods to eat.

Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other diseases that impair cognitive function have been getting more and more attention as our baby boomer generation reaches old age.

Baby boomer or not, aging is a fact of life for all of us, even though it’s not until we pass our twenties and thirties that we might start thinking about the fact that “old-age” is on the horizon.

While part of it is indeed a blessing beyond your control, much of reaching a productive and happy old age is dependent on you.

According to a national poll conducted by Research!America and PARADE magazine, declining health was the number one concern of Americans about getting older.

When asked about their greatest fear about aging, the loss of mental capacity was mentioned more than twice as often as declining physical abilities (62% and 29%, respectively)1.

Today, it’s estimated that a third of adults will experience a gradual decline in their cognitive abilities, characterized by slower thinking, reduced ability to learn, and impairment in memory2.

Many people, including conventional doctors, view this slowing down of cognitive functions as inevitable, but new research has begun to uncover possible reasons for these impairments and has identified some ways to combat them.

We here at Body Ecology are not surprised by their findings. It’s been confirmed for us that what we have to offer you is the most significant investment you can make towards your golden years.

The Importance of Vitamin B to an Aging Mind

Super Spirulina Plus

Aging adults with low appetites and many other people with poor digestion are unable to get the important nutrients they need from food and lack energy as a result. Super Spirulina Plus can help. It’s made from the highest quality organic, fermented ingredients, including nature’s most powerful protein, spirulina, AND it’s naturally rich in Vitamin B!

What we refer to as “Vitamin B” is actually an array of vitamins, which support several systems in your body, and they are especially important to your brain and neurological functions.

For many years, doctors and medical professionals maintained that vitamin B deficiencies are rare because of the wide array of foods that these vitamins can be found in. B vitamins are naturally found in animal foods, and many cereals and grains are fortified with them.

However, a large scale study published in 2008 may have opened some eyes. The study conducted by researchers at Tufts University found that vitamin B6 deficiency is more common than thought, even when participants reported consuming more than the Recommended Daily Allowance of B63.

The problem is that the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) being consumed these days is so loaded with sugar, preservatives, and processed foods that the vitamins and minerals are no longer viable.

What’s worse, a diet high in nutrient-poor processed foods weakens digestion and destroys the microflora that should be living inside your inner ecosystem. You must have an inner ecosystem teeming with beneficial microflora (friendly bacteria and yeast) in order to properly absorb nutrients, have strong immunity, and stay healthy and strong.

Simply put, the typical American diet does not provide enough of the essential nutrients needed to maintain good health, and most people have poor digestive systems so that even when they do eat healthy, they are unable to efficiently absorb these vital nutrients.

The older you get, the worse it becomes.

Many aging adults will tell you that they eat less and have lost their appetite for food. There are a number of reasons for this, but it’s often because their digestion is worse than it was in their youth.
Yet, your requirements for certain vitamins, like B6, actually rise as you get older.  So while you age, you become more and more vitamin and nutrient deficient, which further hastens the aging process. It’s a vicious cycle:

Poor digestion = fast aging = worsening digestion = increased age-related health declines.

As expected, these deficiencies begin to show up in behavior, mood, physical ability, and cognitive functions.

The relationship between vitamin B and depression is well studied, and it’s known that these vitamins play an important role in the production of brain chemicals responsible for regulating mood4.

The importance of vitamin B in memory and attention has also been shown5:

  • In one study, 76 older men who received vitamin B6 as opposed to a placebo were tested on memory function to show that B6 improved their storage and information retrieval.
  • Another study concluded that memory impairment and neuropathy in older people can be successfully managed with B12 injections or supplementation.
  • One other study determined that low levels of folate (a B vitamin) are associated with cognitive deficits, and patients treated with folic acid for 60 days showed significant improvement in not just their memory, but their attention.

Just like most illness and age-related physical decline, memory loss and impaired cognitive abilities do not happen overnight.

Fight Aging and Memory Loss with Fermented Foods and Drinks

None of us can control everything that happens to us as we age, but we can put up a good fight by controlling what we put into our bodies!
The first place to begin is to balance your inner ecosystem so that you have the beneficial microflora (friendly bacteria and yeast) that are absolutely essential for energy, immunity, and efficient absorption of nutrients.

Not only that, the microflora that reside in your inner ecosystem are actively involved in manufacturing important vitamins in your body, including vitamin B66.

The last century has seen the development of refrigeration, preservation, and food processing methods that have led to the sad outcome of some of nature’s most important foods being forgotten at the expense of our health.
Here at Body Ecology, it’s our mission to bring them back in delicious fermented foods and drinks.

Fermented foods and drinks contain live, active, and beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics) that populate your gut with the microflora you need, while providing you with a rich source of important vitamins and minerals.

So now that you want to try adding fermented foods and drinks to your diet, where do you begin?
We have several articles that we highly recommend you read in order to familiarize yourself with probiotics so you can choose what product best suits your desires.

Sources:

  1. “Top Concerns About Aging: Failing Health, Mental Ability”, Research Amer!ca, February 2, 2006
    http://www.researchamerica.org/release_06feb2_agingpoll_parade
  2. “Mild Cognitive Impairment. Nutrition To Stay Sharp” , Life Extension Magazine, November 13th, 2007
    http://www.lef.org/protocols/neurological/mild_cognitive_impairment_01.htm
  3. “Large Scale Study Finds Vitamin B6 Deficiency Common In U.S.”, Teri Lee Gruss, July 8th, 2008
    http://www.naturalnews.com/023586_vitamin_B6_nutrition_metabolism.html
  4. “ What Is The Relationship Between Vitamin B12 and Depression”, Daniel K. Hall-Flavin, M.D.
    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-b12-and-depression/AN01543
  5. “Mild Cognitive Impairment. Nutrition To Stay Sharp” , Life Extension Magazine, November 13th, 2007
    http://www.lef.org/protocols/neurological/mild_cognitive_impairment_01.htm
  6. “The Intestinal Microflora, The Immune System, and Probiotics”, Wasa Medicals
    http://www.wasamedicals.com/pdf/ref_smj_eng.pdf
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