An overview on vitamin B12 and dementia with behavioral and executive disturbances

Vitamin B12 deficiency can be associated with neurological impairments and mental changes. This chapter discusses the role of vitamin B12 deficiency in the development of various neuropsychiatric symptoms such as delirium, mood disorders, psychosis, and Alzheimer's dementia. In addition, there are cases published in the literature of patients with vitamin B12 deficiency who present with frontotemporal dementia-like behavioral and dysexecutive symptoms and are reversible after treatment with vitamin B12. These mental changes may be attributed to a frontal-subcortical dysfunction secondary to different functional and structural brain damages induced by vitamin B12, folate, or homocysteine abnormal status. Further studies are needed to better identify the clinical profile of such reversible forms of dementia and the role of vitamin B12 in the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.