Daily Multivitamin Slows Cognitive Aging in Alzheimer’s & Dementia Study Reveals

The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association has published the first positive, large-scale, long-term study to show that multivitamin-mineral supplementation for older adults may slow cognitive aging.

The article, “Effects of cocoa extract and a multivitamin on cognitive function: a randomized clinical trial,” is at: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/alz.12767.

Results from the COSMOS-Mind study of more than 2,200 older adults found that taking a daily multivitamin-mineral supplement resulted in a statistically significant cognitive benefit. Cocoa extract had no effect on cognition in the study population.

While these results are encouraging, at this time the Alzheimer’s Association is not recommending widespread use of a multivitamin supplement to reduce risk of cognitive decline in older adults. Before any recommendation, independent confirmatory studies are needed in larger, more diverse study populations. It is critical that future treatments and preventions are effective in all populations.

With confirmation, these promising findings have the potential to significantly impact public health — improving brain health, lowering health care costs, and reducing caregiver burden — especially among older adults.

The Alzheimer’s Association envisions a future where there are multiple treatments available that address the disease 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.