A new study finds that regular intake of a multivitamin improves memory in older adults. The Columbia University Irving Medical Center research demonstrates how a daily multivitamin may help slow age-related memory decline.
This could present a simple, inexpensive way to help older adults slow down memory decline.
Previous studies have indicated that vitamins can help maintain general health, including potentially improving memory and brain function. However, very few large-scale, randomized trials have been conducted – until now.
With the new research, some 3,500 adults over the age 60 were randomly assigned to take a daily multivitamin supplement or placebo for three years. The multivitamins were supplied by Pfizer.
At the end of each year, participants performed a series of online cognitive assessments at home designed to test the memory function of the hippocampus. This is an area of the brain affected by normal aging.
The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, and it plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation.
The results showed that by the end of the first year, memory improved for people taking a daily multivitamin, compared with those taking a placebo. Furthermore, the scientists estimate the improvement, which was sustained over the three-year study period, was equivalent to about three years of age-related memory decline.
According to lead researcher Professor Adam M. Brickman: “There is evidence that people with cardiovascular disease may have lower micronutrient levels that multivitamins may correct, but we don’t really know right now why the effect is stronger in this group.”
At this stage it is unknow whether there is any specific component of the multivitamin supplement linked to the improvement in memory. It may be that the aging brain is simply more sensitive to nutrition.
Further research will be required to support the findings and it is important that supplementation in the form of multivitamins is not seen as a mechanism to take the place of more holistic ways of getting the same micronutrients.
Furthermore, not all multivitamins are the same. a multivitamin tablet will contain vitamins: A, B, C, D, and K, though different blends may also contain slightly more, including vitamin E, and different B complex vitamins.
The research appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, titled “Multivitamin supplementation improves memory in older adults: A randomized clinical trial.” This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04582617.
