Published on 6/16/2026
When the first symptoms of a cold appear, vitamin C is the first thing that comes to most people’s minds, but a recent Japanese study revealed that levels of this vitamin in the blood are linked to brain health in old age.
The study, which was conducted on more than two thousand people over the age of 64, stated that getting a sufficient amount of vitamin C helps maintain brain health as we age.
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The study, conducted by a research team from Hirosaki and Kyoto Universities and the Food and Health Research Center in Japan, relied on measuring levels of vitamin C in blood plasma during an MRI of the brain.
The researchers found that low levels of vitamin C in the blood are associated with a decrease in the volume of gray matter in the brain, as well as weak neural connections within the parts of the brain responsible for attention and memory functions.
During the study, which was published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, the researchers pointed to some factors that are related to brain health, such as physical exercise, level of education, nutritional habits, and others.

One of the researchers participating in the study stated that these results highlight the hypothesis that diets rich in vitamin C may support the maintenance of brain health and reduce the decline in cognitive functions associated with aging.
Although these results indicate that maintaining high levels of vitamin C in the body supports brain health in aging, they do not provide explanations for this observation.
The Health Day website, which specializes in medical research, quoted researchers participating in the study as saying that it is necessary to conduct more research to confirm the validity of these results.