The study, published last Thursday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that over a two-year period, those 60 and above who took a daily multivitamin were observed to have a “modest benefit” when it came to global cognition.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham, who evaluated around 600 people via in-person visits for the study, said they did not observe a “significantly more favorable change” in executive function and attention over the two-year period but did see one in episodic memory.
“Cognitive decline is among the top health concerns for most older adults, and a daily supplement of multivitamins has the potential as an appealing and accessible approach to slow cognitive aging,” Chirag Vyas, one of the authors of the study, wrote in a press release on the study.
“The meta-analysis of three separate cognition studies provides strong and consistent evidence that taking a daily multivitamin, containing more than 20 essential micronutrients, helps prevent memory loss and slow down cognitive aging,” Vyas continued.
Despite the possible benefit of taking the multivitamins revealed by the study, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force published a recommendation two years ago that said evidence at the time was “insufficient to determine the benefits and harms of taking most vitamin, mineral and multivitamin supplements to prevent heart disease, stroke and cancer.”
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