Multivitamin improves memory in older adults, study finds

Date:
May 24, 2023
Source:
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Summary:
Taking a daily multivitamin may help slow age-related memory
decline, a new study has found.


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FULL STORY ========================================================================== Taking a daily multivitamin supplement can slow age-related memory
decline, finds a large study led by researchers at Columbia University
and Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard.

"Cognitive aging is a top health concern for older adults, and this
study suggests that there may be a simple, inexpensive way to help older
adults slow down memory decline," says study leader Adam M. Brickman,
PhD, professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University Vagelos College
of Physicians and Surgeons.

Many older people take vitamins or dietary supplements under the
assumption that they will help maintain general health. But studies
that have tested whether they improve memory and brain function have
been mixed, and very few large-scale, randomized trials have been done.

Study methods In the current study, more than 3,500 adults (mostly
non-Hispanic white) over age 60 were randomly assigned to take a daily multivitamin supplement or placebo for three years. At the end of each
year, participants performed a series of online cognitive assessments
at home designed to test memory function of the hippocampus, an area of
the brain that is affected by normal aging. The COSMOS-Web study is part
of a large clinical trial led by Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard
called the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS).

By the end of the first year, memory improved for people taking a daily multivitamin, compared with those taking a placebo. The researchers
estimate the improvement, which was sustained over the three-year
study period, was equivalent to about three years of age-related memory decline. The effect was more pronounced in participants with underlying cardiovascular disease.

The results of the new study are consistent with another recent COSMOS
study of more than 2,200 older adults that found that taking a daily multivitamin improved overall cognition, memory recall, and attention,
effects that were also more pronounced in those with underlying
cardiovascular disease.

"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," says Brickman.

Good nutrition important for aging brain Though the researchers did not
look at whether any specific component of the multivitamin supplement was linked to the improvement in memory, the findings support growing evidence
that nutrition is important for optimizing brain health as we age.

"Our study shows that the aging brain may be more sensitive to nutrition
than we realized, though it may not be so important to find out which
specific nutrient helps slow age-related cognitive decline," says Lok-Kin Yeung, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Columbia's Taub Institute for
Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain and first author of
the study.

"The finding that a daily multivitamin improved memory in two separate cognition studies in the COSMOS randomized trial is remarkable, suggesting
that multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe, accessible,
and affordable approach to protecting cognitive health in older adults,"
says co- author JoAnn Manson, MD, chief of the Division of Preventive
Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"Supplementation of any kind shouldn't take the place of more holistic
ways of getting the same micronutrients," adds Brickman. "Though
multivitamins are generally safe, people should always consult a physician before taking them." More information The study, titled "Multivitamin supplementation improves memory in older adults: A randomized clinical
trial," was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

All authors: Lok-Kin Yeung (Columbia), Daniel M. Alschuler (New York State Psychiatric Institute), Melanie Wall (Columbia), Heike Luttman-Gibson
(Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard), Trisha Copeland (Brigham and Women's/Harvard), Richard P. Sloan (Columbia), Howard D. Sesso (Brigham
and Women's/Harvard), JoAnn E. Manson (Brigham and Women's/Harvard),
and Adam M. Brickman (Columbia).

Dr. Manson and Dr. Sesso are co-leaders of the parent COSMOS trial.

The study was supported by grants from Mars Edge, a segment of Mars Inc.,
and the National Institutes of Health (AG050657, AG071611, EY025623,
and HL157665).

Multivitamins were supplied by Pfizer. Dr. Sesso reported receiving investigator-initiated grants from Pure Encapsulations and Pfizer and/or
travel funds for lectures from the Council for Responsible Nutrition,
BASF, NIH, and the American Society of Nutrition during the study.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Healthy_Aging # Menopause # Alzheimer's_Research #
Teen_Health
o Mind_&_Brain
# Dementia # Memory # Intelligence # Mental_Health
* RELATED_TERMS
o Ginkgo o Dementia o Memory o Psychology o Alzheimer's_disease
o Memory-prediction_framework o Chimpanzee o Memory_bias

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Columbia_University_Irving_Medical_Center. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Lok-Kin Yeung, Daniel M. Alschuler, Melanie Wall, Heike
Luttmann-Gibson,
Trisha Copeland, Christiane Hale, Richard P. Sloan, Howard
D. Sesso, JoAnn E. Manson, Adam M. Brickman. Multivitamin
supplementation improves memory in older adults: a randomized
clinical trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2023;
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.05.011 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230524181916.htm

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