7 Best Vitamins to Support Active Brain Health

Our brains are incredibly complex organs, filled with the mysteries of consciousness. They ask and attempt to answer life's big questions, like who we are, our purpose, and whether we can honestly know ourselves. Here at Team Nature Made®, we may not have answers to those big-picture questions, but we can answer one thing: What are Nature Made®'s best vitamins for brain health support so you can support active brain health while pondering those more significant questions?

Thankfully, we offer various supportive brain health supplements, from B Vitamins to Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Choline, and more! When picking brain support supplements, knowing Nature Made®'s best vitamins for brain health support and how they support our most complex organ is essential. Read on to find out how each brain supplement can help you get the support you need!

Top Supplements & Vitamins to Support Healthy Brain Function

There are many options for brain support, so to help you make an informed choice, let's break them down one by one!

B Vitamins

Vitamins. The stock-in-trade of the supplement business. You've probably heard of a few; you probably take a few yourself! Different vitamins have different benefits, but we're here today to discuss B Vitamins. You may have heard of Vitamin B supplements, but the truth is that eight different vitamins all share the same letter. All B Vitamins support a healthy brain and nervous system and help brain and body cells produce the energy they need to function. If you want to cover all 8 B Vitamins, check out Nature Made® Super B Energy‡ Complex Softgels, which includes a dose of all the B Vitamins in one daily softgel.†

Vitamin B12

What is Vitamin B12 good for? Vitamin B12 supplementation helps support brain cell function and can help reduce fatigue in those low in Vitamin B12. You'll mostly find Vitamin B12 in animal organs like the liver and kidney but also in fermented foods like yogurt and miso. Approximately 6% of older adults have a Vitamin B12 deficiency, and over 20% have low levels of B12.[1] Nature Made® offers Vitamin B12 Softgels to support brain cell function and help convert the food you eat into cellular energy. For more information, check out our blog on How Much Vitamin B12 Should I Take?†

Folate or Folic Acid (B9)

Folate (or Vitamin B9) is the form found in food particularly in leafy-green vegetables and legumes. Folic acid is the synthetic form used to fortify foods and found in supplements. Both forms contribute to your daily requirement of this important B Vitamin, another member of the B Vitamin family that provides brain health support. Folate/Folic Acid is a necessary component in the construction of certain neurotransmitters that are important to mental function. If you don’t eat a lot of leafy-greens, you may want to try a supplement, like Nature Made® Folic Acid Tablets.†

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Have you ever heard of the Omega-3 Fatty Acids EPA and DHA? They're a group of fatty acids in fish and krill oil. Eating fatty fish like salmon, tuna, sardines, and anchovies can help add these important fatty acids to your diet. Omega-3 Fatty Acids EPA and DHA are mainly known for their heart-healthy qualities, but DHA (in amounts of 250 mg or more/day), also helps support a healthy brain! Check out our Burp-Less Extra Strength Omega-3†† From Fish Oil Softgels to help support a healthy heart, brain, eyes, and mood in two daily softgels.†

Magnesium L-Threonate

Nature Made®'s Magnesium L-Threonate with Vitamin C & D3 can help add cognition support to your daily routine. With a clinically studied formula, these softgels help support cognitive function including healthy short-term memory in older adults, as some adults experience mild memory loss associated with aging.†

Choline

Did you know that 9 out of 10 US adults don't meet the recommended intake levels for Choline? Choline is an essential nutrient you'll find in eggs, fish, beef, poultry, soybeans, wheat germ, and cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli. Even with all those options, most adults and children's diets are insufficient in Choline, an ingredient that helps support a healthy brain and nervous system. Choline is an essential precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is involved in healthy brain function, memory, mood, and muscle control support. Nature Made® Choline Gummies for adults provide 300 mg of Choline in two yummy Green Apple flavor gummies with Choline benefits like supporting a healthy brain and nervous system. We offer a variety of Choline supplements to fit your needs.†

Multivitamin 50+

A Multivitamin supplement is an excellent foundation for your supplement routine, and Nature Made® has options to fit your needs! Our Men's Multivitamin 50+ Tablets and Women's Multivitamin 50+ Tablets provide 22 key nutrients for daily nutritional support. Along with supporting healthy aging, these multivitamins include over 10% of your daily value of Iodine and Zinc to help support healthy cognitive function. That's a lot of benefit in one supplement!†

How Vitamins and Nutrients Interact to Support Brain Health

Our bodies are a complex collection of interlinking systems; each vitamin does not act alone. Some vitamins work together to create benefits. For example, Vitamin B12, B6, and Folate (B9) work together to produce methionine, which is used in methylation reactions and is essential for maintaining the myelin sheath of nerve cells and synthesizing neurotransmitters. Dietary or supplemental sources of B6, B9, and B12 can work synergistically to help support your brain health.†

Foods Rich in Essential Vitamins to Support the Brain

The best way to get vitamins and essential minerals for brain health support is by including foods rich in them in your diet. For example, one of the best ways to get Omega-3 Fatty Acids is through food naturally high in fish oil. What kind of foods could that be? You may be surprised to hear that fatty fish are high in fish oil; the FDA recommends eating 8 ounces of fish per week as part of a healthy diet. Vitamin B12 is often found in livers and kidneys, but including fermented foods like miso can help add a non-meat source of Vitamin B12 to your diet. Folate, Vitamin B9, can be found in dark leafy greens. Incorporating these foods can be easy; try making a salad with dark leafy greens and topping it with fatty fish like salmon to add flavor and heart-healthy fish oil!†

Supplements vs. Natural Sources: What You Need to Know

As always, including these nutrients in a well-rounded diet is a significant step toward providing yourself with the best vitamins for brain health support. However, if your diet does not often include foods rich in some of these vitamins or nutrients, supplementation can help to close these possible nutrient gaps. Consult with your primary medical provider or another medical professional before changing your supplement routine or beginning a new one.

How Nature Made Approaches Brain Health Support

Nature Made® is committed to providing you with the brain support supplements you need at any stage in your life, sourced from high-quality ingredients. From Nature Made® Vitamin B12 Softgels that support brain cell function to Nature Made® Magnesium L-Threonate with Vitamins C & D3 to support cognition function, we have plenty of options for you to find the best brain health supplement.†

‡Helps convert food into cellular energy.†

††As ethyl esters

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

References

1. Allen LH. How common is vitamin B-12 deficiency? Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(2):693S-6S. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.26947A.