You may have noticed that your elderly grandmother has started to get a little forgetful and confused, even depressed. Well, you think, that’s normal for someone who’s in her 80s. But is it? Not necessarily. There are lots of medical problems that can make an elderly person seem senile, but bad nutrition can also play a big role.

Studies show that many elderly people are low in B vitamins, particularly cobalamin. Part of the reason is that you just don’t absorb as many B’s from your food as you grow older. Because some of the B’s aren’t absorbed all that well in the first place, older people can easily start to be deficient.

Then the deficiency makes them a little depressed, so they eat less and get even fewer B’s, which makes them more depressed or so forgetful that they eat even less, which makes them so forgetful, confused, and depressed that they end up in a nursing home. The food there might not help—institutional food often has most of its vitamins processed or cooked away.

Studies show that a large number of elderly people have overall B vitamin shortages that affect their health and their mental abilities. For example, many elderly people are low on thiamin, folic acid, choline, and cobalamin. The statistics here are disturbing—about a third of the elderly are low on pyridoxine, and thiamin deficiency may affect nearly half of all elderly people sent to hospitals.

B shortages in older people are enough to cause depression, confusion, and memory problems, even though the usual blood tests show normal levels. Instead, the doctor and the family think poor old Grandma has just gotten senile. What she may really need are some extra B’s.