Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Columbia University have found that daily multivitamin supplements can improve memory and slow cognitive decline in older adults. The team published their findings in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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The large-scale, nationwide study (known as COSMOS: COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study) includes two separate randomized clinical trials – COSMOS-Web and COSMOS-Mind – both aimed at examining the effects of multivitamin supplementation on cognitive function.
The latest study, COSMOS-Web, reveals that participants taking daily multivitamin supplements significantly improved memory performance compared to those who took a placebo.
"The findings that a daily multivitamin improved memory and slowed cognitive decline in two separate studies in the COSMOS randomized trial is remarkable," said co-author JoAnn Manson, MD, chief of the Brigham's Division of Preventive Medicine. This promising result suggests that multivitamin supplementation could be a safe, affordable, and accessible approach to preserving cognitive health in older adults.
Improved memory performance by the equivalent of 3.1 years
The COSMOS-Web trial included over 3,500 participants aged 60 and older who underwent web-based assessments of memory and cognition annually for 3 years.
The researchers found that the participants taking multivitamin supplements performed significantly better on memory tests compared to the placebo group. The benefits were observed at the primary time point of 1 year and sustained throughout the 3-year follow-up period. This improvement in memory performance was estimated to be equivalent to reversing 3.1 years of ageing compared to the placebo group.
Interestingly, both COSMOS-Web and the previously published COSMOS-Mind study showed that the participants with a history of cardiovascular disease appeared to benefit the most from the multivitamin supplementation.
Further research
The new study provides novel insights, but more research is needed to identify the specific nutrients contributing to the cognitive benefits and understand the underlying mechanisms. Also, further investigations are required to verify whether these findings apply to a more diverse population with different educational levels and socioeconomic status.
"The findings are promising and certainly set the stage for important follow-up studies about the impact of multivitamin supplementation on cognition," said Adam Brickman, PhD, who co-led the COSMOS-Web study with Lok-Kin Yeung, PhD, at Columbia University. Their hope is that daily multivitamins may present a simple, cost-effective measure to help older adults combat age-related memory loss.
If you are interested in more details about the COSMOS studies, be sure to check out the paper published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, listed below.
Sources and further reading:
Yeung LK et al. “Multivitamin supplementation improves memory in older adults: A randomized clinical trial” (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)
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