Multivitamins linked to slower cognitive aging

A new study, published last week in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that daily multivitamin supplementation could improve memory among older adults.

In the COSMOS-Web trial, researchers from the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Columbia University tested the impact of daily multivitamins on cognitive function in over 3,500 participants aged 60 and above.

Compared to a placebo group, participants taking daily multivitamins showed significantly better memory performance over a three-year period, showing an improvement equivalent to 3.1 years.

These new results also confirm earlier findings from the COSMOS-Mind trial in 2022, suggesting that multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe, accessible and affordable approach to protecting cognitive health in older adults.

COSMOS-Mind, which was conducted as a collaboration between Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Wake Forest School of Medicine, tested 2,200 older adults for 3 years and showed that randomised assignment to a daily multivitamin supplement was associated with a 60% slowing of global cognitive aging compared to placebo, equivalent to 1.8 years reduction in cognitive decline.

Both cognitive studies also showed that the participants who benefitted the most may be those with a history of cardiovascular disease.