The common 15p vitamin that ‘improves memory and slows down ageing’
A DAILY multivitamin can keep your memory sharp in old age and fend off dementia, a study suggests.
The cheap pills reduced cognitive decline — which can lead to the deadly disease — in older adults, US researchers found.
The study tested more than 3,500 over-60s to see how supplements affected brain power.
Researchers said the “remarkable” results could give people an easy way to reduce the normal effects of ageing on the brain.
Dr Adam Brickman, of Columbia University, said: “Most older adults are worried about memory changes that occur with ageing.
“Our study suggests that supplementation with multivitamins may be a simple and inexpensive way for older adults to slow down memory loss."
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Around 900,000 Brits are thought to have dementia currently, with experts predicting numbers will increase to more than 1million by 2025.
The term refers to a number of diseases related to memory loss, and is usually preceded by cognitive decline.
Previous research around using multivitamins to stave off worsening memory with age has been inconclusive.
The latest study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at a larger number of participants to get its results.
They were given a daily Centrum Silver multivitamin — which cost around 15p per tablet — or placebo for three years and did memory tests every year to see how it affected them.
Those taking the multivitamin did significantly better on the tests after the first year, with benefits continuing throughout the study.
People with a history of cardiovascular disease saw a particular improvement in performance when taking the pill.
Researchers suggested it might be because their normal diets are more likely to be missing vital nutrients, which were made up for by the pill.
Dr JoAnn Manson, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said: “The findings that a daily multivitamin improved memory and slowed cognitive decline is remarkable.
“Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe, accessible and affordable approach to protecting cognitive health in older adults.”