Alzheimer’s & Dementia: 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.
People should talk with their health care provider(s) about the benefits and risks of all dietary supplements, including multivitamins.
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.
Alzheimer’s Association Leadership in Science & Research
Leading the effort to determine the benefit of lifestyle interventions, the Alzheimer’s Association is leading the U.S. POINTER Study, a two-year clinical trial to evaluate whether lifestyle interventions that target multiple risk factors can protect cognition in older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline. U.S. POINTER is being conducted right now at five sites across the U.S. For more information, please visit https://alz.org/us-pointer/overview.asp.
For people living with Alzheimer’s, every discovery offers new hope. The Alzheimer’s Association works to identify and fund a wide range of the most promising projects, from basic discovery science to new treatment trials, to studies addressing social and behavioral aspects of Alzheimer’s and other dementia. This research has enabled significant advances across the research spectrum in such areas as diagnosis, genetics, treatments, prevention, early detection and enhancing quality of life.
About the Alzheimer’s Association
The Alzheimer’s Association is a worldwide voluntary health organization dedicated to Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Our mission is to lead the way to end Alzheimer’s and all other dementia — by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia®. Visit alz.org or call 800.272.3900.
