Researchers are reporting additional positive findings from the most recent clinical trial within the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS). This research, conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (an affiliate of Harvard Medical School) and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, aims is to determine whether taking daily cocoa extract supplements containing 500 mg/day cocoa flavanols or a common multivitamin (MVM) reduces the risk for developing heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other important health outcomes.
The most recent trial has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).The researchers concluded: "In COSMOS-Clinic, daily MVM supplementation led to a significantly more favorable 2-year change in episodic memory. The meta-analysis within COSMOS cognitive sub-studies indicated that daily MVM significantly benefited both global cognition and episodic memory. These findings within the COSMOS trial support the benefits of a daily MVM in preventing cognitive decline among older adults."
In a previous COSMOS trial, researchers estimated 3.1 fewer years of memory loss in the supplement group versus those who took a placebo. The researchers concluded: "Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe and accessible approach to maintaining cognitive health in older age." And those findings are in line the earlier COSMOS-Mind trial, which found statistically significant improvement on global cognition in participants who took a multivitamin over the course of the long-term clinical trial.
Natural Products Industry Reacts to Positive Findings on Multivitamins
Duffy MacKay, Senior Vice President of Dietary Supplements, Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA): “Even individuals with the healthiest diets often fail to reach the recommended daily intake level for vitamins and nutrients. As we age, achieving this goal becomes even more important to protect memory and brain function. With an urgent need to identify strategies to preserve memory and thinking abilities in older adults and reduce the burden of cognitive decline on families and society, these results are certainly important, as they show how supplements can support certain aging adults in meeting their daily nutrient needs for better cognitive function – a critical part of healthy aging for the mind and body.
“While there is no proven prevention or treatment for cognitive decline, scientific evidence grows in increments, and seeing positive results emerge from this study once again reinforces the beneficial role safe, accessible, and affordable vitamins and supplements can play in optimizing health through responsible self-care.”
Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN): "CRN is impressed by this recently published research further demonstrating the benefits of multivitamin supplementation on memory and cognitive aging. CRN agrees with the study authors that the results are stunning and consistent. CRN’s annual survey finds that 74% of Americans use dietary supplements, most frequently a multivitamin. These results should strengthen consumer confidence in the value of daily multivitamin supplementation."
