With life expectancy on the rise, we’re also seeing a rise in the number of cases of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease worldwide. We all hope to retain good mental capacity as we age and now a new study suggests that multivitamins may be part of the key to ageing well cognitively.
The first of its kind, the COSMOS-Mind study, co-authored by researchers from Harvard School of Medicine, appears to provide quality evidence on the benefits of long-term multivitamin use on cognitive function.
The COSMOS-Mind study was carried out over 3 years and compared multivitamin use (MVM) to a cocoa extract use. Half of the study participants were asked to take a long list of vitamins and minerals daily, while the other half were asked to take cocoa extract.
2262 people with a mean age of 73 years took part in the study. 60% were women, 40% were men and 89% were Caucasian.
Over the course of the study, participants were regularly followed-up and put through a series of tests that focused on word recall, story recall and verbal fluency – all basic qualities we hope to retain while we age.
Overall, those 3 years of MVM supplementation appeared to have slowed psychological aging by 1.8 years – which equates to a 60% deceleration. Interestingly, if the participant had a history of cardiovascular disease, the rate of improvement was greater than in those without a history of the disease.
The cohort taking cocoa extract did not see a benefit in cognition at the end of the 3-year trial.
The authors of the study note that age-related cognitive decline is a complex topic, involving many inter-related factors, however the results of this one study are impressive enough to warrant more research.
“[This study] provides the first evidence from a large-scale, long-term, pragmatic RCT (random controlled trial) to suggest that daily use of a safe, readily accessible, and relatively low-cost MVM supplement has the potential to improve or protect cognitive function for older women and men,” the authors said,
“An additional trial is needed to confirm these findings in a more representative cohort and to explore potential mechanisms for cognitive benefit. This work may ultimately have important public health implications for standard of care to improve or protect cognitive function in older adults.”
Note from National Custom Compounding: We can tailor make multivitamins to meet your individual needs. Off the shelf multi-vitamins are ‘one size fits all’, and may not meet all your body’s individual requirements for optimal health.
We can help you personalise your own multivitamin mix so you can get the best out of your supplement. For more information contact us for an informal chat and professional advice.