Need A Boost Of Brain Power? This Vitamin Optimizes Cognitive Function*

Reported by MindBodyGreen.

Vitamin C has been riding in the backseat ever since vitamin D claimed the wellness spotlight — but its resume on brain health alone should have kept it front and center all along. According to MindBodyGreen, the nutrient does far more than fend off a cold: it actively shapes how you think, feel, focus, and age.

Here's what makes it genuinely remarkable. Vitamin C is found in exceptionally high concentrations in the brain — one of the earliest signals to researchers that it plays a serious role in the central nervous system. Neurons and glial cells (the support network of the nervous system) depend on its steady absorption and transfer. And because the human body, unlike most mammals, cannot produce vitamin C on its own, we are entirely reliant on diet and supplementation to keep those levels up. When intake falls short, the brain essentially hoards what it can — maintaining its own concentrations even as levels drop elsewhere in the body. That's not a workaround you want to rely on.

From Your 20s Through Your 60s, It Matters

A 2019 review published in Nutrients found that higher circulating vitamin C levels in adults aged 66 to 90 were positively correlated with stronger cognitive performance. As an antioxidant, it guards against the oxidative stress that chips away at memory and mental sharpness with age — and it goes further by helping to regenerate other critical antioxidants in the brain, including vitamin E and glutathione. But this isn't exclusively an aging conversation. Research from the European Journal of Nutrition showed that supplementation in adults aged 20 to 39 improved work motivation, sustained attentional focus, and performance on cognitive tasks. Basically: your brain wants this at every decade.

Then there's the mood piece, which doesn't get nearly enough airtime. Vitamin C is essential for synthesizing norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter directly tied to mood regulation. A 2018 study in Antioxidants found that people with the highest plasma vitamin C levels were significantly more likely to report elevated mood — and inversely, lower levels were linked to sadness, anger, and mental fog. The vitamin also plays a foundational role in neurodevelopment itself, contributing to the formation of myelin (the protective sheath around nerves) and neurons long before any of life's cognitive demands even kick in.

If your diet isn't consistently rich in citrus, peppers, and berries, a quality supplement is worth considering — because letting your brain scrape by on reserves isn't a strategy, it's a gamble.

Read the original at MindBodyGreen.