Nearly 1/3 to 1/2 of the adults in the US take a daily multivitamin. A new study, The COSMOS Trial, looked at new research combined with previous data from older studies, showing that taking a daily a multiple vitamin reduces cognitive decline and improves memory.
GET A MEMORY BOOST BY USING A MULTIVITAMIN
Additionally, daily multiple vitamin users seemed to have a lower risk of lung cancer. Cocoa extract users in the study had a significant decrease in cardiovascular disease.
The Significance of Cognitive Aging
With projections indicating that nearly one in four Americans will be at an elevated risk of cognitive decline by 2060, the findings from the COSMOS trial become crucial. The study’s outcomes suggest that a simple and accessible strategy, such as a daily multivitamin, could potentially serve as a preventive measure against memory loss and cognitive aging among older adults.
What Is The COSMOS Trial
The Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), is a clinical trial conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (an affiliate of Harvard Medical School and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center). The study followed 21,442 men and women for an average of 3.6 years through the end of 2020. COSMOS studied the effect of cocoa extract and multivitamins on various aspects of health and aging. There are 4 distinct parts of the study. Let’s take a look at each part and what was found…
Multivitamin Findings | Cocoa Extract Findings | COSMOS-Mind Findings | Author’s Review
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Multivitamin Findings
- Potential Lung Cancer Benefit: Daily multivitamin users showed a possible 38% lower risk of lung cancer compared to those taking a placebo.
- Nutritional Improvement: Multivitamins improve levels of some nutrients in the body, showing a positive impact on nutritional health.
- Multivitamin and Cancer Risk: No clear difference in total cancer risk between those taking a multivitamin and those taking a placebo in the study.
- Effect on Individual Cancers: Multivitamins didn’t significantly change the risk of specific cancers like breast, colorectal, prostate, or melanoma.
- No Impact on Cardiovascular Events: Multivitamins didn’t affect the risk of heart problems or major cardiovascular events in the study.
Read the Final Multivitamin Findings here…
The estimated slowdown of global cognitive aging by two years compared to the placebo group adds weight to the argument for the incorporation of daily multivitamins into our lives.
COSMOS-Web Findings on Multivitamins
- Memory Boost with Multivitamins: Taking a daily multivitamin improved memory for people in the COSMOS study.
- Participants who took multivitamins did better on memory tests for all three years of the study.
- The memory improvement was like gaining 3.1 extra years compared to those not taking multivitamins.
The multivitamin tested in COSMOS, Centrum Silver®, is very similar to the current Centrum Silver® Adults 50+ multivitamin which contains a comprehensive array of essential vitamins and minerals to help meet recommended daily intakes.
Cocoa Extract Findings
- Cocoa Extract and Heart Health: About 10% fewer heart problems for those taking cocoa extract
- Better Results with Regular Use: People who regularly took cocoa extract had 15% fewer heart issues, showing it might help if used consistently.
- Saving Lives from Heart Disease: Cocoa extract lowered the chance of dying from heart problems by 27%.
- No Clear Impact on Other Heart Issues: Cocoa extract didn’t show a big change in other heart problems during the study.
- No Effect on Cancer: Using cocoa extract didn’t make a big difference in preventing or treating cancer in the study.
Read the Final Cocoa Extract Findings here…
The cocoa extract supplement used in COSMOS is similar to CocoaViaTM Cardio Health as they both include 500 mg cocoa flavanols, including about 80 mg of epicatechin.
COSMOS-Mind Findings (Cocoa & Multivitamin Findings)
- Importance of Nutrients: Nutrients in food, like vitamins and minerals, are crucial for a healthy brain in older adults.
- Cognitive Decline Risk: Not having enough of these nutrients may increase the risk of cognitive decline as you get older.
- Multivitamin Benefits: Those who took a daily multivitamin had better cognitive test scores after 3 years compared to those who took a multivitamin placebo.
- Slowing Cognitive Aging: The researchers think taking a daily multivitamin might slow down how our brains age by about 60%, the memory improvement was like gaining 3.1 extra years.
- Exciting Discovery: COSMOS Co-Director Dr. Howard Sesso shared that COSMOS-Mind is the first big trial showing that a regular daily multivitamin could help older adults with memory and thinking.
- More to Learn: Other researchers are still studying in COSMOS to learn more about how cocoa extract and multivitamins affect different aspects of thinking and other aging-related things. Keep an eye out for updates!
Final COSMOS-Web Multivitamin Findings
Final COSMOS-Web Cocoa Extract Findings
Author’s Review
Finally, we get a positive study that makes it on the national news scene. As a practitioner for over 20 years, I have seen the benefits of supplement use firsthand. The bioavailability of nutrients in the multivitamin used in the study has long been a topic of conversation in the natural health world.
In my opinion, Centrum products contain far too many chemically derived ingredients to receive my approval for my patients. According to my studies, multivitamins, and all supplements for that matter, are best when minimally processed and as close to “whole food” as possible.
I recommend Phytomulti by Metagenics for my patients and for my family. The testing on the product is extensive and the results are impressive. As for the cocoa used, I am not as familiar with the brand and decline to comment until I have personally tried the product and read its research. The benefits of flavanols are not new and many of those compounds can be found in this same supplement.
View Phytomulti by Metagenics here…
If you can’t tolerate pills and prefer a liquid with the same quality nutrition, I often recommend IntraMax Liquid Multivitamin & Mineral Complex by Drucker Labs. This is a practitioner-only formula that can be accessed by using the practitioner code: ADJ3455
View IntraMax by Drucker Labs here…
References
- Vyas CM, Manson JE, Sesso HD, et al. “Effect of multivitamin-mineral supplementation versus placebo on cognitive function: Results from the clinic sub-cohort of the COSMOS randomized clinical trial and meta-analysis of three cognition studies within COSMOS” AJCN D0I: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.12.011
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- Sesso HD, Christen WG, Bubes V, Smith JP, MacFadyen J, Schvartz M, Manson JE, Glynn RJ, Buring JE, Gaziano JM. Multivitamins in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in men: the Physicians’ Health Study II randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2012;308:1751-1760.
