From: Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
September 14, 2022 -- Could
taking a daily multivitamin help maintain cognitive health with aging and
possibly prevent cognitive decline? According to new research from Wake Forest
University School of Medicine, conducted in collaboration with Brigham and
Women’s Hospital in Boston, taking a daily supplement may improve cognition in
older adults, but additional studies are needed to confirm these findings
before any health recommendations are made. The study also showed that daily
use of a cocoa extract supplement does not benefit cognition.
The findings were
recently published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the
Alzheimer’s Association.
According to the
Alzheimer’s Association, more than 6.5 million Americans are living with
Alzheimer’s disease, and 1 in 3 seniors die with the disease or another form of
dementia.
“There’s an urgent need
for safe and affordable interventions to protect cognition against decline in
older adults,” said Laura D. Baker, Ph.D., professor of gerontology and
geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and
co-principal investigator of the trial, along with Mark Espeland, Ph.D.,
professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University
School of Medicine.
The COcoa Supplement
and Multivitamin Outcomes Study for the Mind (COSMOS-Mind), funded by the
National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, was an
ancillary study to the COSMOS trial led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital that
randomized 21,442 men and women across the U.S. The study investigated whether
taking a daily cocoa extract supplement or a daily multivitamin-mineral
supplement reduces the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, cancer and
other health outcomes.
According to Baker,
cocoa extract is rich in compounds called flavanols, and past research suggests
that these compounds may positively impact cognition. Baker also said that
several micronutrients and minerals are needed to support normal body and brain
function, and deficiencies in older adults may increase the risk for cognitive
decline and dementia.
In COSMOS-Mind,
researchers tested whether daily administration of cocoa extract versus placebo
and a multivitamin-mineral versus placebo improved cognition in older adults.
More than 2,200 participants, ages 65 and older, enrolled and were followed for
three years. Participants completed tests over the telephone at baseline and
annually to evaluate memory and other cognitive abilities.
“Our study showed that
although cocoa extract did not affect cognition, daily multivitamin-mineral
supplementation resulted in statistically significant cognitive improvement,”
Baker said. “This is the first evidence of cognitive benefit in a large
longer-term study of multivitamin supplementation in older adults.”
The researchers
estimated that three years of multivitamin supplementation roughly translated
to a 60% slowing of cognitive decline (about 1.8 years). The benefits were
relatively more pronounced in participants with significant cardiovascular
disease, which is important because these individuals are already at increased
risk for cognitive impairment and decline.
“It’s too early to
recommend daily multivitamin supplementation to prevent cognitive decline,”
Baker said. “While these preliminary findings are promising, additional research
is needed in a larger and more diverse group of people. Also, we still have
work to do to better understand why the multivitamin might benefit cognition in
older adults.”
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