Early supplementation may help offset early-life stress on the adult brain
Thursday, October 27, 2016 - 05:31
in Health & Medicine
Early-life stress has been shown to impair learning and memory in later life, but new research suggests that improved nutrition may help offset the negative effects of this stress. Specifically, using mice, scientists focused on essential micronutrients, including methionine, vitamins B6 and B12, and folic acid, none of which are made by the body and need to be ingested through diet. They found that early-life stress reduces the levels of these nutrients in mouse pups, but supplementation prevented the reduction of methionine levels and even prevented some of the lasting negative effects of early-life stress on later learning and memory in adult offspring.