Clinical Trial of the Effect of Vitamin B12 in Elderly Subjects with Low Serum B12 Levels

Abstract

A clinical trial of the effect of vitamin B₁₂ therapy was conducted in 39 elderly subjects who had been found, in a community screening survey, to have low levels of serum B₁₂ without a macrocytic anaemia or neuropathy. The study produced no evidence which suggests that in such subjects B₁₂ is superior to placebo in effecting an improvement in psychiatric state or general well-being. There was a clear tendency for all the subjects to show an improvement during the trial, but this probably represents the therapeutic effect of involvement in a research exercise of this kind.