Significant Reduction of Grey Matter Loss with Vitamin B Treatment in Cognitively Impaired Elderly

Gwenaelle Douaud¹, Helga Refsum², Celeste de Jager², Robin Jacoby², Stephen Smith¹, A. David Smith²

We investigated the impact of B vitamin treatment on grey matter (GM) loss over a 2 year period on cognitively impaired elderly. Using FSL-VBM, we found significant loss of GM in placebo and vitamin groups. However, the GM loss was significantly smaller over time in the vitamin group compared to the placebo group in regions vulnerable to the Alzheimers disease process and showing marked atrophy in the placebo group. Remarkably, higher levels of plasma homocysteine were associated with significantly increased GM atrophy, but this deleterious effect was compensated for by the B vitamin treatment.