Increasing proof suggests that consuming a daily multivitamin can aid in maintaining strength as you grow older

Studies have shown that taking a daily multivitamin slows the rate of memory decline in older adults.

This study is the third randomized trial to yield such results, and adds to a growing body of evidence that multivitamins can slow age-related cognitive decline.

“The result is the equivalent of delaying cognitive aging by two years, which is huge,” he says. joan manson from Harvard Medical School was involved in all three clinical trials. These were part of a larger study, funded by the makers of cocoa supplements, to examine whether taking multivitamins and cocoa extract supplements could help prevent heart disease and cancer in people over 60.

Some participants also took a memory test designed to measure whether any of the supplements were having a psychological effect.

The latest trial compared both types of supplements with a placebo pill in 573 people who took in-person memory tests at the start of the study and two years later. Those who took a multivitamin called Centrum Silver performed slightly better on memory tests than those who took a placebo pill.

This is similar to the results of two other arms of a large study that administered memory tests to people online or over the phone.

“The results of this study suggest that multivitamins hold promise as a safe and affordable strategy to protect memory and slow cognitive aging in older adults,” Munson says.

It is unclear which components of multivitamins are responsible for their effects.

Duane Mellor The British Dietetic Association says the trial was not designed to investiage memory effects and further research specifically set up to study this issue is needed. “The results need to be treated with caution,” he says. “It's not a definitive study.”