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Recent advances in berry supplementation and age-related cognitive decline. Willis LM, Shukitt-Hale B, Joseph JA. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2009 Jan;12(1):91-4. Review. PMID: 19057194

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration and Cognitive Impairment.\nLlewellyn DJ, Langa K, Lang I.\nJ Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2009 Feb 4. [Epub ahead of print]\nPMID: 19073839 \ndoi:10.1177/0891988708327888\n

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research suggests that low vitamin D levels in the body are associated with thinking or "cognitive" impairments in older men, but whether vitamin D supplements can help is not yet known. In the study, an investigation of European men, subjects with low levels of vitamin D scored worse on a standard test of cognitive ability than did their peers with normal levels, Dr. David M. Lee, from the University of Manchester, UK, and co-researchers found. Although, the authors emphasize, the difference in scores was not that great.

Phospholipase A(2) activation as a therapeutic approach for cognitive enhancement in early-stage Alzheimer disease. Schaeffer EL, Forlenza OV, Gattaz WF. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2009 Jan;202(1-3):37-51. Epub 2008 Oct 14. PMID: 18853146 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-008-1351-0

Closing coal-fired power plants can have a direct, positive impact on children's cognitive development and health according to a study released by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

To the surprise of doctors around the world, melatonin is demonstrating life-saving benefits that far exceed its common use as a sleep aid.1 Increasingly, researchers have shown that melatonin's impressive ability to control oxidative damage in systems throughout the body can reduce the trauma of brain injury, prevent heart muscle damage, offer neuroprotection, increase cognitive functioning, and reduce the toxic effects of chemotherapy while enhancing its benefits.2-7 Cumulatively, these findings add up to important new roles for melatonin not only in disease prevention but in almost every field of medicine.

Sulbutiamine (brand name: Arcalion) is a precursor to thiamine (i.e., vitamin B1). As a dimer of two structurally modified thiamine residues, sulbutiamine retains many of the features of thiamine. However, the thiazole rings are open, the alcohol groups are esterified, and a disulfide bridge connects the two thiamine analogues. Sulbutiamine is indicated for the treatment of asthenia.[1] Its ability to reduce fatigue is also considered desirable by athletes, and it is available for over-the-counter sale as a nutritional supplement. In one study of chronic fatigue patients, sulbutiamine did not demonstrate sustained benefits over the placebo, which raises doubts about its clinical efficacy.[2] However, the authors of that study suggest that additional research is needed to evalulate the potential usefulness of sulbutiamine in the treatment of chronic fatigue. Sulbutiamine may be beneficial for cognition. Indeed, the demonstrated ability of sulbutiamine to improve memory in rats[3] and patients of schizophrenia[3] suggests that it is a nootropic. Recent research also shows support for the use of sulbutiamine in the treatment of erectile dysfunction

Foods rich in cocoa may improve performance on challenging mental tasks like arithmetic. This is the finding of a study presented as part of a symposium highlighting the potential of plant-based treatments presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference 2009 in Brighton. Crystal Haskell from the Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at Northumbria University said: "Foods containing high levels of cocoa flavanols, found in chocolate, have been shown to increase cerebral blood flow, and it has also been proven that consumption of plants that have these properties improves performance on mentally demanding tasks. We wanted to discover whether cocoa flavanols produced the same effect.

This is a very long newsletter. I will answer questions about oil versus water-soluble Vitamin D, depression, mental clarity, malignant melanoma, Crohn's disease, an imagist poet, multiple sclerosis, sun-exposure, high-intensity red light and collagen repair in the skin, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, influenza, the 1918 influenza pandemic, statins, the new Food and Nutrition Board, thyroid disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, athletes, the upcoming 14th Vitamin D Workshop, prostate cancer, the wrong blood test, pregnancy, autism, Alzheimer's disease, soap and sebum, asthma, sleep, the co-factors vitamin D needs to work (all contained in spinach), and-my favorite-UVC light and Vitamin D

It turns out that statins inhibit not only the liver from making cholesterol but may also block the brain from making cholesterol. That's a serious consequence, according to Yeon-Kyun Shin, a biophysics professor in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State, because cholesterol is vital for healthy and optimum brain function. "If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect the machinery that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters affect the data-processing and memory functions. In other words, how smart you are and how well you remember things," said Dr. Shin in a statement to the media.