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

Br Med J 1970; 2 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.5707.458 (Published 23 May 1970) Cite this as: Br Med J 1970;2:458
  1. Dafydd Hughes,
  2. P. C. Elwood,
  3. N. K. Shinton,
  4. R. J. Wrighton

    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.