The Study
Multivitamin supplementation improves memory in older adults: a randomized clinical trial.
This study is like a fair test where half the people took a multivitamin and half took a sugar pill, and then we checked who remembered words better. It found that the multivitamin group did a little better—but only for one type of memory test. So we can say the pill probably helped with that one thing, but not that it makes you smarter overall.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave older adults a daily multivitamin or a fake pill for 3 years and tested their memory with word recall games.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 590 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1While the number of extra words is small, it’s like turning back the clock on memory loss by over 3 years — a meaningful difference for aging brains.
- 2People who took the vitamin remembered 0.23 more words on average after one year — enough to feel like they were 3.1 years younger in memory ability.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2023
Authors
Lok-Kin Yeung, Daniel M. Alschuler, M. Wall, H. Luttmann-Gibson, T. Copeland, C. Hale, R. Sloan, H. Sesso, J. Manson, A. Brickman
Related Content
Claims (5)
Older adults who take multivitamins show cognitive test scores similar to those of people two years younger who do not take multivitamins.
Taking Centrum Silver daily for three years improves immediate verbal memory recall in adults aged 65 and older by an amount equivalent to reversing 3.1 years of age-related decline, as measured by the ModRey test, but does not improve memory retention, executive function, or novel object recognition.
In older adults, taking a multivitamin is linked to a level of improvement in immediate verbal memory that matches the amount of memory loss typically seen over 3.1 years of aging, according to statistical modeling of age and memory test scores.
Multivitamin supplements improved cognition only in older adults who were highly educated, White, and comfortable with technology, and did not improve cognition in other groups.
Taking a multivitamin every day for three years does not improve memory, decision-making, or the ability to recognize new objects in older adults, even though it may affect short-term verbal recall.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.