Wed March 2, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study published recently in IOS Press Content Library suggests that vitamin D deficiency may play a role in neuropsychological functions, but not Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementias.

The study finds individuals with vitamin D deficiency who were not diagnosed with any dementia like Alzheimer's disease at baseline had "poorer executive function, processing speed, and visuo-perceptual skills."

For the study, vitamin D levels in blood samples from participants enrolled in Framingham Heart Study were measured between 1986 and 2001 and the participants were followed for six years.  Neuropsychological functions including diagnosis of dementia like Alzheimer's disease were assessed and other related tests were carried out throughout the follow-up.

The study also shows that individuals who had low vitamin D or vitamin D deficiency had smaller hippocampal volumes even though vitamin D status was not associated with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. (David Liu)

Karakis, Ioannisa  Pase, Matthew P. Beiser, Alexa; Booth, Sarah L. Jacques, Paul F. Rogers, Gail DeCarli, Charles Vasan, Ramachandran S. Wang, Thomas J. Himali, Jayandra J. Annweiler, Cedrici;  Seshadri, Sudhab, Association of Serum Vitamin D with the Risk of Incident Dementia and Subclinical Indices of Brain Aging: The Framingham Heart Study, Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. Preprint, no. Preprint, pp. 1-11, 2016