Multivitamin shows memory benefits in older adults

 Compared with placebo, multivitamin use tied to better immediate recall over three years.

FRIDAY, May 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Daily multivitamin supplementation improves memory in older adults compared with placebo, according to a study published online May 24 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Lok-Kin Yeung, Ph.D., from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues examined the effect of daily multivitamin/multimineral supplementation on memory in older adults. The analysis included 3,562 older adults randomly assigned to either a multivitamin or placebo.

The researchers found that compared with placebo, multivitamin supplementation was associated with significantly better ModRey immediate recall at one year, as well as across the three years of follow-up. There were no significant associations observed between multivitamin supplementation and secondary outcomes of episodic memory over three years or changes in performance on neuropsychological tasks of novel object recognition and executive function over three years. The estimated effect of the multivitamin intervention on memory performance improvement was about 3.1 years of age-related memory change above placebo.

"Most older adults are worried about memory changes that occur with aging," Yeung said in a statement. "Our study suggests that supplementation with multivitamins may be a simple and inexpensive way for older adults to slow down memory loss."