Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Your memory might benefit from a daily multivitamin pill as you age

As someone, who has been taking almost daily multivitamins/-minerals for several decades I must concede my memory is still not good enough! (Caution: irony) 😊

Apparently, it makes even sense and has benefits to start taking daily doses at high age! So pop it! 😊

"Researchers ... reported last month that a randomized trial of the humble multivitamin found surprisingly potent effects on memory as we age. The COSMOS-Web Study showed that, among 3,500 subjects 60 and older, a daily multivitamin led to 3.1 years less cognitive aging than for those assigned a placebo. The clinical study was the second cognition trial in COSMOS to suggest that multivitamins can slow memory loss. ...
We saw better performance on memory tests among the participants randomized to multivitamins compared to those assigned to placebo. The benefit was apparent at one year and was sustained over the three years of the trial. Although an initial improvement in memory was seen, possibly due to replenishing of micronutrients in those with deficiencies, the longer-term effect was slowing of age-related memory loss and cognitive aging. ..."

From the abstract:
"Background
Maintenance of cognitive abilities is of critical importance to older adults, yet few effective strategies to slow cognitive decline currently exist. Multivitamin supplementation is used to promote general health; it is unclear whether it favorably affects cognition in older age.
Objectives
To examine the effect of daily multivitamin/multimineral supplementation on memory in older adults.
Methods
The COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study Web (COSMOS-Web) ancillary study (NCT04582617) included 3562 older adults. Participants were randomly assigned to a daily multivitamin supplement (Centrum Silver) or placebo and evaluated annually with an Internet-based battery of neuropsychological tests for 3 y. The prespecified primary outcome measure was change in episodic memory, operationally defined as immediate recall performance on the ModRey test, after 1 y of intervention. Secondary outcome measures included changes in episodic memory over 3 y of follow-up and changes in performance on neuropsychological tasks of novel object recognition and executive function over 3 y.
Results
Compared with placebo, participants randomly assigned to multivitamin supplementation had significantly better ModRey immediate recall at 1 y, the primary endpoint (t(5889) = 2.25, P = 0.025), as well as across the 3 y of follow-up on average (t(5889) = 2.54, P = 0.011). Multivitamin supplementation had no significant effects on secondary outcomes. Based on cross-sectional analysis of the association between age and performance on the ModRey, we estimated that the effect of the multivitamin intervention improved memory performance above placebo by the equivalent of 3.1 y of age-related memory change.
Conclusions
Daily multivitamin supplementation, compared with placebo, improves memory in older adults. Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe and accessible approach to maintaining cognitive health in older age. ..."

Your memory might benefit from a multivitamin – Harvard Gazette Researcher details ‘remarkable’ findings, but with a caveat: Healthy lifestyle needs to come first

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