Some nutrients, like vitamin D, always seem to be making headlines — while others, you just never hear about.

Take choline, for example.

When was the last time you heard about that one? Possibly never — but you might want to add it to your vocabulary, because this B vitamin found in egg yolks, liver, and chicken may have the power to protect your brain and keep dementia at bay.

Researchers looked at data on some 1,400 adults between the ages of 36 and 83 who were tracked for nearly a decade and given MRI exams along with tests to check both memory and cognitive ability.

You might want to stock up on eggs: The patients with the highest dietary choline intake did much better on those memory tests than those with the lowest. What’s more, the MRIs revealed fewer signs of “white matter hyperintensity” in the brain.

That’s a blood vessel problem that may be linked to both stroke and dementia.

Sounds great, right? But there’s just one catch: The choline levels were calculated based on food surveys, and food surveys simply aren’t good science. They rely too much on guesses, estimates, and memory.

That last one’s a little ironic given that memory tests were part of the study. Can those who did the worst on those tests really be relied on to give an accurate accounting of their food intake?

On the other hand, this study doesn’t come out of the blue, either — because choline is needed by the brain to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in everything from muscles to memory.

Some studies have shown that Alzheimer’s patients lose the ability to turn choline into acetylcholine, and some promising experimental research has looked into finding ways to correct that — although if the problem is in the conversion, then choline supplements on their own won’t stop the disease.

But if they can prevent it, we’re on the right track — and earlier studies have shown that rats given choline in the womb go on to develop more powerful brains later.

Since choline is also essential for everything from your heart to your liver, you might want to add this to your supplement list. After all, it’s unlikely you’re getting enough from diet alone — unless you’re eating plenty of egg yolks.

By the way, choline isn’t the only B vitamin that can play a key role in stopping and even reversing cognitive decline: Seniors given a blend of B6, B12, and thiamine did significantly better on memory tests and had fewer signs of the brain shrinkage linked to dementia.

Learn more here.

There’s one part of the body you don’t want to see get smaller–and no, men, it’s not down there.

It’s the brain–and while we all lose a little grey matter as we age, too much shrinkage has been linked to dementia.

Now, a new study finds that the loss of brain mass found in Alzheimer’s patients might actually be detectable up to a decade before the telltale signs of the disease appear.

Researchers looked at two groups of 33 healthy people in their 70s who were given MRI scans of the regions of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and then tracked for between 8 and 11 years.

The researchers say 55 percent of the 11 people who had the lowest MRI measurements eventually developed Alzheimer’s disease… versus none of the nine people with the highest measurements and just 20 percent of those with normal readings, according to the study in Neurology.

A similar study in 2009 found that people with smaller hippocampal volumes and faster shrinkage rates were between two and four times more likely to develop dementia than people with larger hippocampal volumes and slower rates of shrinkage.

Like I said earlier, all brains shrink with age–so don’t worry about the normal loss of volume, which is about half a percent a year in seniors.

More than that, however, and you still don’t have to accept dementia as your fate. In fact, you might even be able to slow that shrinkage with ordinary B vitamins.

Researchers found that a patented blend of folate, B12 and B6 slowed the rate of brain shrinkage by an average of 30 percent when compared to a placebo in a study of 168 seniors who suffered from mild cognitive impairment.

The patients who had the highest levels of the inflammation marker homocysteine had an even greater benefit, with the B blend lowering their shrinkage rates by 53 percent. (Read about that here.)

Brain shrinkage isn’t the only dementia warning sign to watch for–another new study finds that people who lose the ability to detect lies and sarcasm may actually suffer from frontotemporal dementia, a form of the disease that affects about 5 percent of all dementia patients.

Researchers from U.C. San Francisco asked 175 older adults–half of whom had some form of dementia–to watch videos of two people speaking, one of whom occasionally lied or used sarcasm.

While the patients without dementia had no problems picking up on it, the ones who showed signs of frontotemporal dementia missed it.

Two messages from this: First, if someone in your life starts missing sarcasm and lies, it may be time to bring them to a specialist.

And second, if they do have this form of dementia, they may be especially prone to scams and con artists–so keep a close eye on them and their finances.

Our pals at Big Pharma aren’t going to like this one.

I’ve already warned you about their attempts to get everyone in every age group taking statins for every condition.

Lately, they’ve been making a lot of noise about these meds and Alzheimer’s disease. The claim has been that the cholesterol-lowering drugs can help you avoid dementia.

But a new study puts that one to rest.

Researchers have carried out a major review of the studies on this, and they’ve concluded that statins won’t have any impact whatsoever on your Alzheimer’s risk.

Their findings appeared in a recent issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and looked at two trials with 26,340 participants.

The clear lack of a connection even surprised the researchers. That’s because there is a little fire behind this smoke – just not in the place Big Pharma wants us to look.

A number of studies have linked lower cholesterol levels to a decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. So it might make sense to some people that statins would help reduce your risk for those conditions as they lower your LDL cholesterol levels.

But it turns out if you want that lower risk, you need to get your cholesterol levels down the old-fashioned way: Without drugs, and through lifestyle changes.

You can do it. I help folks get there all the time, and all it takes from you is a commitment. Diet and exercise have always been, and remain, the best and most reliable way to control your cholesterol levels.

The biggest problem is that many people don’t give these lifestyle changes a fair shake. It takes more than a couple weeks of half-hearted efforts to lower those bad cholesterol levels. You need to decide for yourself that you don’t want the risks that come along with high cholesterol, and you don’t want the nasty side effects and high expenses that come
along with a lifetime supply of drugs.

The first step is to get off what I call the high-carb Torture Chamber Diet and start eating more sensible meals with healthy fats, good proteins, and fresh vegetables. Avoid those starches, sugars, and processed foods.

Then get a little more exercise.

Now, if that doesn’t work, there’s still no reason to ask your doctor for a statin. I’ve found that some folks who can’t quite get their cholesterol and blood pressure levels under control with lifestyle changes are often producing too much of the hormone cortisol. Get that under control, and your blood pressure and cholesterol levels will
follow suit. Find out how in the June issue of Health Revelations. Click here to access it now.

When you get your cholesterol under control the right away, you’ll enjoy some additional benefits too: A lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease that you just won’t get if you try to take the shortcut.

There are plenty of studies these days geared at getting more people to take more prescription drugs, most of which are completely unnecessary.

So I was pleased to hear the news out of Stockholm that found a new weapon in the battle against Alzheimer’s, and this one doesn’t come in a bottle.

The study found that people who have less stress have a lower risk of dementia. It also found a lower risk in people who are more socially active. And the best news of all is that people with low stress and active social lives appear to have the lowest risk of all.

The researchers believe that extroverted people handle stress better and are less prone to depression. And that makes perfect sense. Stress unleashes hormones that are damaging to your brain, heart and other organs, so it’s hardly surprising that people with less of it have a lower risk of dementia. They have a lower risk of many other things, too – and they’re almost certainly happier overall.

So if you find yourself constantly battling stress, or if you think that maybe you’re just a little lonely, you can begin helping yourself right now. First, identify the things in your life that give you stress. Eliminate or reduce those things when you can, but you’ll probably find that proves easier said than done. For those stresses you can’t eliminate, you’ll want to change how you respond to them. It’ll take time, and you might need some help, but you can get there if you want to.

Secondly, be more socially active. Get out with your friends, spend time with your family, join a club or take up a sport.

You’ll live longer, you’ll live better, and you’ll live healthier.