Study shows daily multivitamin use may slow cognitive aging for older adults

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Greyhound
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Study shows daily multivitamin use may slow cognitive aging for older adults

Post by Greyhound »

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Alzheimer's Association
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Credit: Credit Alzheimer's Association

Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association has published “Effects of cocoa extract and a multivitamin on cognitive function: a randomized clinical trial.” The three-year study of more than 2,200 older adults found that daily multivitamin-mineral supplementation resulted in a statistically significant cognitive benefit. Cocoa extract had no effect on global cognition.

Post-embargo, the article will be at: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wile ... l/15525279

Advance embargoed copies are available.

Alzheimer’s Association scientists are available to discuss:

The conduct and results of this new clinical trial.
The implications of this announcement for public health, older adults, and people living with –-- and at risk for –-- Alzheimer’s and all other dementia, and their families.
The Association’s perspective on Alzheimer's/dementia risk reduction, research and treatment.

Contact media@alz.org to set up an interview.

For the most recent Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, please visit alz.org/facts.

The Alzheimer’s Association is available anytime, day or night for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers at 800-272-3900, and info@alz.org.

Quotes from Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer

“This is the first positive, large-scale, long-term study to show that multivitamin-mineral supplementation for older adults may slow cognitive aging. While the Alzheimer’s Association is encouraged by these results, we are not ready to recommend widespread use of a multivitamin supplement to reduce risk of cognitive decline in older adults.”

“Independent confirmatory studies are needed in larger, more diverse study populations. It is critical that future treatments and preventions are effective in all populations.”

“For now, and until there is more data, people should talk with their health care providers about the benefits and risks of all dietary supplements, including multivitamins.”

“We envision a future where there are multiple treatments and risk reduction strategies available that address cognitive aging and dementia in multiple ways — like heart disease and cancer — and that can be combined into powerful combination therapies… in conjunction with brain-healthy guidelines for lifestyle factors like diet and physical activity.”
Journal

Alzheimer s & Dementia
Article Title

Effects of cocoa extract and a multivitamin on cognitive function: a randomized clinical trial
Article Publication Date

14-Sep-2022
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/964446

I stopped the multi some time ago and recently tipped some cocoa powder into my decaf..
not a quality study I would say and wonder what supplement they used but will not bother.. this likely just demonstrates that most people eat poorly.
TLS
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Re: Study shows daily multivitamin use may slow cognitive aging for older adults

Post by TLS »

From a personal perspective, adding a multi vitamin makes sense to me as I watch my parents eating habits change significantly over the last couple years. They went from eating a pretty good diet to lots of easy to make, as in microwave, food. I would imagine a multi helps make up for some deficiencies.
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NF52
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Re: Study shows daily multivitamin use may slow cognitive aging for older adults

Post by NF52 »

Greyhound wrote: Wed Sep 14, 2022 8:14 pm...Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association has published “Effects of cocoa extract and a multivitamin on cognitive function: a randomized clinical trial.” The three-year study of more than 2,200 older adults found that daily multivitamin-mineral supplementation resulted in a statistically significant cognitive benefit. Cocoa extract had no effect on global cognition.

https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wile ... l/15525279
I stopped the multi some time ago and recently tipped some cocoa powder into my decaf..
not a quality study I would say and wonder what supplement they used but will not bother.. this likely just demonstrates that most people eat poorly.
TLS wrote:From a personal perspective, adding a multi vitamin makes sense to me as I watch my parents eating habits change significantly over the last couple years. They went from eating a pretty good diet to lots of easy to make, as in microwave, food. I would imagine a multi helps make up for some deficiencies.
Here's an update in Medpage Today to what Greyhound posted last fall:
Memory Boosted With Daily Multivitamins
Multivitamin supplementation slowed cognitive decline in older adults, the COSMOS-Webopens in a new tab or window study showed.
Compared with placebo, participants who took a daily multivitamin/multimineral supplement had significantly better immediate recall at 1 year (P=0.025) and across 4 years of follow-up on average (P=0.011), reported Adam Brickman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York City, and co-authors in the American Journal of Clinical Nutritionopens in a new tab or window.
Multivitamins improved memory performance above placebo by the equivalent of 3.1 years of age-related memory change, the researchers estimated. The effect was more pronounced in people with underlying cardiovascular disease.
. The is from the full article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
The COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study Web (COSMOS-Web) ancillary study (NCT04582617) included 3562 older adults. Participants were randomly assigned to a daily multivitamin supplement (Centrum Silver) or placebo and evaluated annually with an Internet-based battery of neuropsychological tests for 3 y. The prespecified primary outcome measure was change in episodic memory, operationally defined as immediate recall performance on the ModRey test, after 1 y of intervention...
Conclusions Daily multivitamin supplementation, compared with placebo, improves memory in older adults. Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe and accessible approach to maintaining cognitive health in older age. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04582617.
https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S000 ... 6/fulltext

While forum members may carefully source specific supplements, the virtue of this research seems to be that multivitamins are inexpensive, easily available even in under-resourced communities, and likely have a high "acceptance factor" among many seniors.

TL/DR: The test of memory used a list of 20 non-phonetic or category-related words, with the participant repeating as many as possible, repeated in 2 more trials. That is followed by a different list of 20 words as a memory distraction, repeated 3 times. Then a 90-minute delay with other online tests to allow for forgetting to occur. Followed by a request to repeat as many words from both lists as possible and then to identify which list (A or B) a word came from. I wouldn't want to take this test!!
4/4 and still an optimist!
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