Procarenow.com for free samples. Use Code: Susan10 to save 10% Has someone told you to take vitamin B-12 for brain fog after bariatric surgery? B-12 helps to keep your brain healthy and even helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease as you age.  Hi, I’m registered dietitian nutritionist Dr. Susan Mitchell. You’re listening to the Bariatric Surgery Success podcast episode number 66. Most of my career I’ve worked in some type of media, particularly radio where I did morning drive nutrition spots for over 18 years. That’s what lead me to start podcasting and ultimately to you. I created Bariatric Surgery Success to provide you with life-changing information based on science along with simple strategies and tools to help you be successful in your transformation and your entire journey. So happy you’ve connected with me. You’re in the right place and I’m glad you’re listening.I want to give a shout out to Brittany who posted in the FB group: I love your podcasts! Brittany I love you right back for taking time to say so and share with the group. If you want to join us in the facebook group, please do. It’s an active group where you can find answers and support day-to-day or just vent if you need to. There’s a lot to deal with after surgery, right? On facebook, search groups for bariatric surgery success with dietitian dr susan mitchell and ask to join. Click for the direct link.Has someone told you to take vitamin B-12 for brain fog after bariatric surgery? First let’s take a broad look at the brain, then vitamin B-12 and it’s tie to your brain and finally bring it home to bariatric surgery. Your brain has a lot of demands. It needs both calories and nutrients or vitamins and minerals. Don’t miss this fact. The brain uses 20% of your calories. Did you have any idea it was that high? B-vitamins, folate, zinc and other vitamins and minerals all join in to keep the brain healthy. A deficiency of these can cause depression type symptoms, poor memory, problems with attention, learning, fatigue, mood and appetite or what just feels like brain fog or brain impairment. This is one of the big reasons that follow up lab work after your surgery is so very important. If you listen to some of my other podcasts, you know I talk about many vitamins and minerals working together as a team. B-vitamins, folate, zinc and other vitamins and minerals such as thiamin all work like an effective basketball team in your brain. Deficiencies in these or even too few carbs can all cause brain fog but today the focus is on your brain and B-12 also known as cobalamin.A B-12 deficiency after weight loss surgery is very common but did you know that B-12 deficiency increases with age too? This happens for a couple of reasons. Often as you get older, you tend to eat less, which decreases the amount of B12 in your diet. Also up to 1/3 of people who are 50+ don’t absorb B-12 from their food because they don’t produce enough stomach acid. This is the same thing happening after bariatric surgery but for a different reason. You have surgical changes which affect absorption. Less B12 is released in the stomach as much of the stomach is bypassed or removed. Add age to the picture and a low vitamin B-12 blood level is tied to what feels like brain fog or brain impairment and could also be tied to dementia including Alzheimer’s disease. Maybe you’ve heard the word homocysteine. A high homocysteine level is not something you want. It’s an amino acid in the blood and elevated levels have been linked to dementia, heart disease, stroke. The good news is that homocysteine can be lowered with the B vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid which seem to slow down the loss of brainpower.Let’s review the science in today’s Science 101 on Vitamin B-12 specific to bariatric surgery. The absorption of B-12 can be affected due to changes in acid production and reduced availability of what’s called the intrinsic factor. This intrinsic factor helps the B-12 to be absorbed and used by the body. When it’