I know plenty of seniors who would pop pretty much any pill — risks and costs be damned — if it meant they’d never have to battle Alzheimer’s disease.

But it turns out they may not have to face any risks at all to get a leg up on dementia — because the latest research confirms that simple, safe and widely available B vitamins can dramatically slow the rate of cognitive decline.

Researchers gave 266 men and women older than 70 either a placebo or a blend of B vitamins — 0.5mg of B12, 0.8mg of folic acid, and 20mg of vitamin B6 — and tracked them for two years.

Those who got the real vitamins did 70 percent better on memory tests than those who took the placebo. They improved in just about every way, with real boosts in semantic memory (the memory of facts and concepts) as well as overall global cognition.

And the biggest boost of all came in “episodic memory,” or the part of the mind we use to remember our daily tasks. That’s the first part of the mind to go in dementia patients, so you can see why these results are so exciting.

The good news doesn’t stop there: In some cases, patients who were already battling memory lapses before the study actually improved their memory after two years of B vitamins.

The researchers say the biggest benefits were seen in patients with the highest levels of homocysteine at the start of the study. (Homocysteine is an inflammation marker with strong links to dementia, heart disease, and more.) Those benefits went well beyond anything measured on cognitive tests.

In fact, patients who took the vitamins had real and visible changes in the physical structure of the brain itself.

Before I get into that, a little background: All our brains shrink a little as we age. It’s a frightening thought, but it’s perfectly normal.

In dementia patients, however, the brains often shrink at a much faster rate — so researchers believe anything that can slow that loss of gray matter may also slow or stop the disease itself.

And the vitamins were able to slow that loss of gray matter by an average of 30 percent overall and 50 percent in those with high homocysteine levels — with one patient seeing a shocking improvement of 500 percent.

It’s clearly too early to say whether B vitamins can stop or even slow Alzheimer’s disease. But it’s also pretty clear you need more of the Bs than the tiny levels the powers-that-be recommend — so talk to your doctor today about adding a B complex to your regimen.

When it comes to heart disease, it looks like the eyes have it.

Researchers say they can spot who’s more likely to suffer the life-threatening condition by simply checking for yellow spots on the eyelids. People who have them face a 50-percent increase in the risk of a heart attack.

The study of nearly 13,000 people in Denmark also found that the yellow spots — actually little pockets of cholesterol called xanthelasmata — can up the odds of heart disease by 39 percent and an early death by 14 percent.

That may not sound like a lot, but over the years it can add up — and over the course of a decade, the researchers say a person with xanthelasmata has a one in five chance of developing heart disease.

You can see where this is going, right? Since the spots are made of cholesterol, the researchers wrote in BMJ that patients who have them should be given cholesterol treatment — a not-so-subtle code for meds like the statins that have become so overused.

But it’s just not that simple, because there’s no clear link between those yellow cholesterol pockets and blood levels of the fats. In fact, half the people who develop xanthelasmata have perfectly normal blood cholesterol levels — and even the new study found that the link to heart disease was there regardless of those blood cholesterol levels.

So instead of blindly flinging statins around, docs should use the yellow patches as a sign they need to dig deeper and get a more complete picture of your heart disease risk factors. As far as those risk factors go, both yellow eyelids and even those cholesterol levels are actually pretty low on the list.

The one that beats them both is homocysteine, the inflammation marker that can signal everything from heart problems to dementia risk — and you don’t need a drug to help lower it.

Something you probably have in your supplement cabinet at this very moment will do that for you: fish oil.

As I’ve told you before, the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil can slash homocysteine levels — and, as a bonus, they can even lower your levels of deadly triglycerides and boost HDL cholesterol, aka “the good cholesterol.”

It’s like killing two birds with one fish.

Inflammation has gone from a condition you should worry about to a marketing buzzword used to sell everything from drugs to juice to cereal.

Well, at least they got it half right: You should worry about inflammation, and do what you can to bring your own levels down.

But forget the drugs, juice and cereal — because none of those things will ever beat the anti-inflammatory powers of plain old fish oil, and the latest research proves it again.

A new look at data on 702 patients who took part in one of 11 clinical trials finds that people who take fish oil supplements have lower blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammation marker linked to everything from heart risk to dementia to bone breaks, according to the study in Nutrition.

Other studies have also found that fish oil can put the hurtin’ on homocysteine.

One published in 2009 found that omega-3 supplements reduced levels of the inflammation marker by 22 percent in diabetics — versus just one percent among those who took a placebo.

And that’s really only the beginning of the benefits.

Studies have found that healthy omega-3 fatty acids can help protect your heart, eyes, and gums while raising levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering levels of deadly triglycerides.

Fish oil can also help boost the mood and beat depression — especially among seniors.

The best sources of these omega-3s are fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, trout and herring — and the highest concentrations are often in the one part of the fish you’re probably not eating: the liver.

Researchers looked at a dozen fish commonly eaten in Spain and found all had livers rich in the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids you need for good health.

And if you like anchovies, good news: The livers of these famously oily little fish had some of the highest omega-3 levels of all.

But why stick to the liver when you can eat anchovies whole?

OK, I know that’s not for everyone — but if you don’t like anchovies, fish livers or even fish itself, there’s a simple solution: a high-quality fish oil supplement from a company you trust.

Some can leave a fishy aftertaste or, even worse, a case of the “fish burps,” but don’t give up — refrigerate your capsules instead.

And if that doesn’t work, try a different brand until you find one that leaves you with all the benefits… but none of the burps.

Inflammation has gone from a condition you should worry about to a marketing buzzword used to sell everything from drugs to juice to cereal.

Well, at least they got it half right: You should worry about inflammation, and do what you can to bring your own levels down.

But forget the drugs, juice and cereal – because none of those things will ever beat the anti-inflammatory powers of plain old fish oil, and the latest research proves it again.

A new look at data on 702 patients who took part in one of 11 clinical trials finds that people who take fish oil supplements have lower blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammation marker linked to everything from heart risk to dementia to bone breaks, according to the study in Nutrition.

Other studies have also found that fish oil can put the hurtin’ on homocysteine.

One published in 2009 found that omega-3 supplements reduced levels of the inflammation marker by 22 percent in diabetics – versus just one percent among those who took a placebo.

And that’s really only the beginning of the benefits.

Studies have found that healthy omega-3 fatty acids can help protect your heart, eyes, and gums while raising levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering levels of deadly triglycerides.

Fish oil can also help boost the mood and beat depression – especially among seniors. (Read more here.)

The best sources of these omega-3s are fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, trout and herring – and the highest concentrations are often in the one part of the fish you’re probably not eating: the liver.

Researchers looked at a dozen fish commonly eaten in Spain and found all had livers rich in the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids you need for good health.

And if you like anchovies, good news: The livers of these famously oily little fish had some of the highest omega-3 levels of all.

But why stick to the liver when you can eat anchovies whole?

OK, I know that’s not for everyone – but if you don’t like anchovies, fish livers or even fish itself, there’s a simple solution: a high-quality fish oil supplement from a company you trust.

Some can leave a fishy aftertaste or, even worse, a case of the “fish burps,” but don’t give up – refrigerate your capsules instead.

And if that doesn’t work, try a different brand until you find one that leaves you with all the benefits… but none of the burps.