According to a new study, Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the health of your brain.
Vitamin D is usually only credited for helping build strong bones but the latest nutrition research shows that Vitamin D is crucial in strengthening immunity and the the central nervous system.
A new study published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine looked at rats that were fed a low vitamin D diet for a five month period.
Researchers found that the rats developed free radical brain damage and performed poorly in cognitive tests when compared with rats who were fed a normal diet.
The rats that were Vitamin D deficient were also found to have higher levels of brain proteins which potentially indicated stress on the brain.
Similar studies have also shown a link between low Vitamin D levels and Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and cancer.
Head researcher, Allan Butterfield, stated, “given that vitamin D deficiency is especially widespread among the elderly, we investigated how, during ageing from middle-age to old-age, low vitamin D affected the oxidative status of the brain. Adequate vitamin D serum levels are necessary to prevent free radical damage in brain and subsequent deleterious consequences.”
Vitamin D can be sourced naturally from the sun or through your diet from foods such as wild salmon, organic eggs, mushrooms and cod liver oil.
