Multivitamins help boost brainpower

David O. Kennedy, biological psychology professor at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom, speaks about a link between water soluble vitamins and human brain function at the 5th International Symposium on Vitamin C at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul, March 22. / Courtesy of Kwangdong Pharmaceutical

By Chung Hyun-chae

Multivitamins containing a full range of water soluble vitamins including vitamin B and C can contribute to boosting brainpower, according to David O. Kennedy, biological psychology professor at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom.

“The functioning of the brain is entirely dependent on an adequate supply of water soluble vitamins, most of which are actively transported into, and concentrated in, brain tissue,” Kennedy said. “Vitamin C is particularly concentrated in the most metabolically active tissue.”

He is also the director of the Brain Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at the British university.

Kennedy noted that humans require 30 vitamins including vitamin A, D, E and K as well as nine water soluble vitamins including vitamin B and C.

He made a presentation on how effective water soluble vitamins are for overall function of human brain, at the 5th International Symposium on Vitamin C held at The Plaza Hotel in central Seoul on March 22.

He cited the results of research he conducted to prove water soluble vitamins effectiveness.

“Whilst epidemiological evidence of a correlation between vitamin C intake and brain function or dementia is somewhat equivocal, stronger evidence of such relationships exists from research involving direct measurements of biochemical levels of vitamin C, including in cerebrospinal fluid,” Kennedy said.

In research that measured the changes in body metabolism of 97 healthy females aged from 25 to 49 for eight weeks, Kennedy discovered that the intake of multivitamins improved brain function, psychological function and cerebral blood-flow.

Another experiment, conducted to prove correlation between multivitamins and mental performance, found that 210 healthy male participants aged from 30 to 55 showed an improvement of feeling, general health, mood and mental performance.

“Evidence from controlled trials also suggests that administration of vitamin C can beneficially modulate endothelial function in sufferers from cardiovascular disease,” he added.