In study, B vitamins slowed rate of brain shrinkage

LONDON — Taking vitamin B slowed the rate at which the brain shrank in people 70 or older who had trouble remembering things, Oxford University scientists found in a study that may guide further research into Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamins B6 and B12, and folic acid, lower the levels of an amino acid called homocysteine that is linked to brain-cell damage similar to that seen in Alzheimer's. Those with the highest levels of homocysteine in their blood showed the most benefit, according to the study published Thursday in PLoS One, a publication of the Public Library of Science, a nonprofit in San Francisco.

The results conflict with findings published in 2008 that Alzheimer's patients didn't benefit from the vitamin.

The Oxford study included 168 people at least 70 with mild memory problems. Half took high-dose vitamin B tablets for two years, and half got a placebo. The researchers used magneticresonance-imaging technology to measure the rate at which the brain shrank.

Those who took folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 had their brains shrink by 0.76 percent a year on average, while those on placebo had an atrophy rate of 1.08 percent, the study found.

Surgery or stent?

Age is a factor

Stroke patients older than 70 who get stents to keep their arteries open may be doubling their risk of having another stroke or dying compared to patients who get surgery instead, a new study says.

European researchers examined past studies from more than 3,400 stroke patients, including 1,725 who got stents and 1,708 who had surgery, and found that a patient's age makes a big difference in how effective stents are.

In patients older than 70, 12 percent of those who got a stent had a stroke or died within four months of the procedure, versus about 6 percent of patients who only had surgery.

In those younger than 70, there was no difference between the groups; about 6 percent in each had a stroke or died within that period.

The study was published Friday in the journal Lancet and was paid for by Britain's Stroke Association.

Most of us don't eat enough veggies

Most Americans still don't eat vegetables often enough, and fruit consumption is dropping, according to a new government report released Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that last year about one-third of U.S. adults consumed fruit or fruit juice at least twice a day. That's down slightly from 2000.

Only about 26 percent ate vegetables three or more times a day, the same as in 2000. The statistics come from a national telephone survey of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Seattle Times news services