The Washington Post (5/24, Cimons) reports, “A daily multivitamin – an inexpensive, over-the-counter nutritional supplement – may help slow memory loss in people age 60 and older,” according to the findings from “a large nationwide clinical trial” published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study revealed that people “taking multivitamins showed an estimated 3.1 fewer years of memory loss compared with a control group who took a placebo.” In other words, “the multivitamin group was an estimated 3.1 years ‘younger’ in terms of their memory function than the placebo group.”
According to the AP (5/24, Aleccia), the study “tracked more than 3,500 people over age 60 for three years.” Participants were randomized “to take a daily multivitamin or a dummy pill,” then were “evaluated annually for three years with internet-based exams that measure memory function.” Investigators also found that memory “improvement was maintained for at least the remaining two years of the study and was more pronounced in people with heart disease.”
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