You spent a half hour looking for your keys.

When you finally got to the grocery store, you realized your list was sitting by the door at home.

You tried to remember everything, but it turns out you forgot a few things on the list -- including everything you needed to make dinner tonight.

Does this sound like a typical trip to the store for you? Do you feel like your memory just isn't what it used to be?

It's a fact of life, though, right? The older we get, the worse our memories are. Sure -- but that doesn't mean we can't slow it down.

And the first step could be as easy as adding a couple of supplements to your daily routine.

Research at Oxford University recently showed that daily supplementation with high doses of certain B vitamins can cut the rate of brain shrinkage in half for older people who have mild memory problems.

In fact, this is the largest study that's been conducted on the effect of B vitamins on mild cognitive impairment. About half of people with mild cognitive impairment go on to develop dementia within five years of diagnosis of the initial impairment.

What are those certain vitamins? Folic acid, B6 and B12. They're known to control levels of homocysteine, high levels of which are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's.

Over the course of the 2-year study, 168 volunteers over 70 years old took either a high-dose vitamin B complex or a placebo tablet every day. People with the highest levels of homocysteine showed the most benefit from the Bs. Overall, those taking the B vitamins showed a brain-shrinkage rate that was half that of people taking the placebo.

Researchers also conducted memory tests that confirmed stronger scores were related to slower brain shrinkage.

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