Multivitamin supplements improve memory in the elderly

A recent study found that daily multivitamin supplementation improves memory compared to placebo in older adults. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study Web (COSMOS-Web) enrolled 3,562 older adults. Subjects were randomly assigned into two groups; one to receive a daily multivitamin (Centrum Silver) and another on placebo. They were assessed annually over 3 years using internet-based neuropsychological tests. Primary outcome measure included immediate recall performance on the ModRey test after 1 year.

Participants on multivitamin supplementation had significantly better immediate ModRey recall after 1 year and throughout the 3-year follow-up period compared to those on placebo. Based on cross-sectional analysis of age-performance associations in ModRey, it was estimated that the effect of the multivitamin intervention improved memory above placebo by 3.1 years of age-related memory change. Based on the above results, this study showed that multivitamin supplementation improves memory in the older adults compared to placebo.