Lauren Dempsey, MS in Biomedicine and Law, RN, FISM News
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Better health and brain function for senior citizens may be just a multivitamin away according to a new study from researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Taking a daily multivitamin may improve cognition and have significant health benefits for those with a history of cardiovascular disease, according to the study.
The study, which was published Wednesday in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, describes the results of a three-year study that included 2,262 people aged 65 and older.
Researchers evaluated cognitive function in the participants who were assigned to take either a cocoa extract supplement containing flavonoids, a multivitamin, or a placebo every day for three years. The trial was randomized and masked, meaning that no one involved in the study — the researchers or participants — knew who was receiving which intervention.
The participants completed tests over the phone each year which evaluated their cognitive function. They were scored on word and story recall, verbal fluency, number span, and ordering digits. The test scores were organized into categories among those who were assigned to take cocoa extract daily compared with a placebo, and among those who took the daily multivitamin compared with a placebo.
Cocoa contains flavanols, which have been suspected to improve oxygenation and nutrient delivery by forming new blood vessels and improving blood flow to the brain.
Multivitamins have been shown to help supplement important micronutrients and minerals such as vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, and zinc. As we age it becomes more difficult to absorb nutrients. Supplementation of these vital nutrients in older adults helps to better support nutrition, overall health, and brain function.
However, the data revealed something surprising. The results indicated that those who took a daily multivitamin had slower cognitive aging by 60%, or 1.8 years, when compared to participants who were assigned the placebo. Daily cocoa supplementation had no impact on cognitive function compared to the placebo.
These results “shocked” the team of researchers.
Laura Baker, author of the study and professor at Wake Forest University said that the team had been certain that the cocoa extract would have benefits based on previous research. She went on to say “We are excited because our findings have uncovered a new avenue for investigation — for a simple, accessible, safe, inexpensive intervention that could have the potential to provide a layer of protection against cognitive decline.”
The authors write that “there is an urgent need to identify effective strategies to preserve cognitive function to mitigate the heavy societal burden associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementia, which affect more than 46 million people worldwide.”
There are no preventative interventions approved by the FDA in the United States to prevent cognitive decline and there is little clinical evidence to support pharmacologic treatment in adults with mild cognitive impairment from AD. Finding treatment is a “public health priority.”
Baker added that her team is not quite ready to recommend a daily multivitamin for older adults, and adds that more studies need to be done to confirm their results.