Could taking a daily multivitamin slow cognitive aging? Maybe.

By Sandy Lamott, CNN

(CNN) — Older adults who took a daily multivitamin for three years saw modest improvements in their health status. memory A new study found results after one year compared to those who took a placebo or sugar pills.

At the start of the study, 3,560 adults aged 60 and over were asked to learn 20 words with a computer program. The study participant was given 3 seconds for him to learn each word before the next word appeared. Shortly thereafter, participants were asked to type all the words they could remember.

Retested at the end of the first year, the study found that those who continued to take the multivitamin on a daily basis were able to remember almost one more word on average than those who took the placebo. It turned out thatThe study found that the effect was small but statistically significant published on wednesday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The improvement in memory lasted for the duration of the study and was stronger in people with a history of cardiovascular disease, said study lead author Adam Stuart, professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University’s Taub Alzheimer’s Disease and Brain Aging Research Institute. Brickman said. York city.

The results mirror previous studies, Published September 2022I found improve memory, overall awareness and attention to people taking multivitamins, especially those with a history of cardiovascular disease. The 2022 study was conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“In science, this type of duplication is one of the tenants of the quote ‘believe in your own discoveries. So we’re very excited about this reenactment because it gives us a little more confidence in what we’re observing,” Brickman said.

“It’s an interesting study, but it’s not a big difference,” said Dr. Jeffrey Linder, director of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, who was not involved in the study.

“We also suspect that taking multivitamins distracts people from activities that are known to be more beneficial for cognitive function, such as eating right, exercising, staying social, and getting quality sleep. I’m worried,” Linder said.

Dr. Richard Isaacson, an Alzheimer’s researcher and preventive neurologist at the UK’s Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases, says that while little improvement is statistically significant, such small changes can be significant in humans. He said it was difficult to judge whether it would improve his life. Florida.

“It fits my belief that there is no ‘magic pill’ to prevent cognitive decline,” said Isaacson, who was not involved in the new study. “In my clinic, blood nutritional measurements are checked and interventions are adjusted on an individual basis. We do not recommend multivitamins to address individual deficiencies.”

Spin-offs from larger studies

Both new research and Wake Forest Harvard University This study was an additional analysis from a much larger study of more than 21,000 adults. Outcome Study of Cocoa Supplements and Multivitamins (COSMOS). This study was designed to separately test the effects of dietary flavanols in cocoa extract supplements (not chocolate) on reducing cardiovascular disease and the effects of multivitamins on cancer prevention. rice field.

(COSMOS cocoa research results, Issued in March 2022 found 15% reduction in cardiac events 27% fewer deaths, including heart attacks. His COSMOS study of daily use of multivitamins found no benefit in cancer prevention. )

in the For the COSMOS study, vitamins were provided by Pfizer, an international biopharmaceutical company, and grants were provided by Mars Edge, a division of Mars, Inc., and the National Institutes of Health.

Brickman and co-authors from Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Brigham Harvard Medical School followed study participants for three years, repeating cognitive tests annually.

The raw data showed a statistically significant effect on memory only at the end of the first year and no effect over the next two years, during which the placebo group’s memory also improved, Linder said. rice field.

“We are talking about the difference between remembering 8.28 words in the multivitamin group versus 8.17 words in the placebo group. no,” he said.

The researchers used computational models to extrapolate and average the data, Brickman explained.

“The study had a wide age distribution, which allowed us to examine the correlation between age and performance on this test, which is a rough estimate based on the data we have,” says Brickman. said Mr.

“We estimated that multivitamins at the end of the study were equivalent to delaying cognitive aging by about three years,” he said.

Medications and lifestyle changes

Brickman said the study was unable to identify which vitamins and minerals in the multivitamin contributed to the benefits. Future studies are needed to test individual components and see if improvements persist over time.

“Previous studies have shown an association between blood levels of vitamins such as B12 and cognition. However, no clinical trials have tested the beneficial effects of vitamins on memory and cognition. , with mixed negative and positive results,” said Rudy Tanzi. He is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was not involved in the research.

June 2022U.S. Preventive Services The Task Force has released updated recommendations for the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. Despite reviewing 84 studies involving more than 700,000 people, the task force reached the same conclusion. Same as 2014: Vitamin, mineral, and multivitamin supplements are unlikely to protect you from cancer, heart disease, or overall mortality.

“People are looking for magic pills to help them live longer, have better lives and prevent disease,” Linder said. “Guess what? It’s exercise. It’s the most important thing people really need to do.”

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