Healthier Brain Scans With This Common Vitamin

It’s widely known that vitamin C plays a major role in supporting the immune system and is commonly used to fight a cold. Now, a new study suggests that this powerful antioxidant could play an even more important role in supporting a healthy aging brain.

For the study, published in June in PLOS One, researchers analyzed data from 2,044 older adults in Japan with a median age of 69 years. Participants had brain MRI scans, and their plasma vitamin C levels were measured through blood samples.

The team focused on two key indicators of brain health:

1. Gray matter volume, which contains nerve cell bodies and connections that are important for understanding information, managing physical movement, processing memories, regulating emotions, and decision-making. Loss of gray matter occurs with aging and is also associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

2. Connectivity within the default mode network (DMN), a large-scale, interconnected network of brain regions involved in recalling personal memories, self-reflection, daydreaming, and other higher-order cognitive functions.

The researchers adjusted for numerous factors that could affect brain health, such as age, sex, education, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol levels.

While previous studies have associated dietary vitamin C with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment, the research team wanted to investigate whether blood vitamin C levels are associated with brain volume and DMN connectivity in older adults.

The study found:

• Participants with higher blood levels of vitamin C tended to have greater gray matter volume and stronger connectivity in the brain’s DMN.
• Vitamin C levels were significantly linked to white matter volume. White matter has been called the brain’s communication network because it connects different regions of gray matter so they can communicate with each other.

• Participants with lower blood plasma vitamin C levels had lower gray matter volume in their brains and weaker connectivity within the DMN. There was more evidence of age-related structural changes in certain parts of the DMN.

Dr. Alexander Y. Zubkov, a board‑certified integrative neurologist and physician advisor for 1MD Nutrition who was not part of the research, said that “having more gray matter, adjusted for your head size, is one sign of a more preserved, resilient brain.”

“Over time, losing gray matter is linked with aging, stroke risk factors, depression, and diseases like Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Zubkov explained to Prevention. “So, when we see factors that are tied to more gray matter, we think about them as potential supports for long‑term brain health.”

The findings did not prove that higher vitamin C levels will result in a healthier brain. The study only showed a connection between vitamin C and brain health. Nonetheless, the research team noted that its study results “further highlight the association between vitamin C status and brain networks, generating the hypothesis that promoting effective vitamin C intake may potentially contribute to healthy brain aging in older adults.”

Why Is Vitamin C Important to the Brain?

Earlier studies found that vitamin C benefits brain health by acting as a potent antioxidant that neutralizes oxidative stress, which is thought to play a major role in brain aging and the development of neurodegenerative conditions like dementia.

Vitamin C also helps the brain produce neurotransmitters, maintain healthy cell membranes, and may help reduce inflammation, all of which influence brain function over time.

According to Dr. Zubkov, vitamin C also helps protect brain cells from normal wear and tear. He explained to Prevention that brain cells are “very active and generate a lot of byproducts that can damage cells if they are not cleared, and vitamin C helps neutralize those.”

Dr. Zubkov added that the brain concentrates vitamin C and preserves it at higher levels than those in the bloodstream, “which shows how important it is.”

How to Get More Vitamin C

Since the body cannot produce its own vitamin C, studies have shown that consuming more fruits and vegetables benefits brain health. Amy Davis, a licensed dietitian nutritionist, founder of The Balanced Dietitian, and a consultant for Live Conscious Nutrition, recommends regularly eating a variety of foods high in vitamin C.

Davis and other nutrition experts recommend obtaining vitamin C regularly from foods such as:

• Bell peppers, particularly red bell peppers, which actually contain more vitamin C than most citrus fruits
• Black currants
• Blueberries
• Grapefruits
• Guava
• Kiwi
• Leafy green vegetables, such as kale, spinach, and broccoli
• Lemons
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes

Vitamin C supplements are also available for those who may find it hard to consume the vitamin through food alone. Dr. Zubkov noted that past research has found that vitamin C supplements have shown modest and mixed results for brain health.

In addition to eating a plant-based diet, Dr. Zubkov and Davis both agree that regular exercise, good sleep, stress management, and blood pressure control can also preserve brain health over time.

Story Links:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0348504
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/this-everyday-vitamin-was-tied-to-stronger-brain-connectivity-in-study-of-2000-older-adults
https://www.prevention.com/health/memory/a71617482/vitamin-c-brain-aging-study/