https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/health/daily-multivitamin-cog…
Study finds potential link between daily multivitamin and improved cognition in older adults
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Is it because of what they do in our bodies, or is it the act of remembering to take them that improves cognition?
Asking for a friend.
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Is it because of what they do in our bodies, or is it the act of remembering to take them that improves cognition?
IMO, it is what they do over an extended period of time. Doing something every day eventually becomes a habit you don’t think about–you just do it. Thus, you are not remembering to do it. On the other hand, taking a multivitamin daily provides an ongoing source of a variety of things your body MIGHT need at some time–but the person does not eat/drink a food/drink with whatever is needed when it is needed. The daily multivitamin ensures a range of possibly-needed materials is available and the body’s requirements are at least partially met, even when not anticipated/planned.
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Was this study funded by the vitamin industry, the way studies funded by the producers of coffee, beer, wine, or a variety of other things, always find their product beneficial?
Steve…waiting for the study that declares “pink slime” in hamburgers to be beneficial
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Did you read the article?
It says it was funded by the National Institutes of Health, conducted by Wake Forest Medical and Brigham and Young’s, and the researchers did not know which subjects were receiving multivitamins, cocoa or placebos.
Far from dispositive, but a good idea to read it before criticizing it.
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You can buy a ‘senior’ multivitamin for a few pennies a day. The senior one has less iron than the regular one.
Doesn’t hurt to take one every day. Diets don’t include everything you need every day, so it’s cheap ‘just in case’ and no downside.
Equate brand 220 tablets for $8.80 or under 4c each.
Heck, my car insurance is over a dollar a day. Car expense is $10+/day.
the cost of my house is over 40 bucks a day - just sitting
yeah, I can afford 4c.
t
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Was this study funded by the vitamin industry
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6642834/
Funding and Support
The COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study for the Mind (COSMOS-Mind) is supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health: 5R01AG050657-02. Additional support was received from the Wake Forest Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (P30AG049638-01A1).
The parent COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study receives support from Mars Symbioscience (infrastructure support, donation of cocoa flavanol capsules and matched placebos, and calendar packaging) and Pfizer Inc. (donation of Centrum Silver multivitamin tablets, matched placebos, and calendar packaging). Recruitment for COSMOS involved a public-private partnership between the Women’s Health Initiative (National Institutes of Health; HHSN268201600018C, HHSN268201600001C, HHSN268201600002C, HHSN268201600003C, and HHSN268201600004C), the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (National Institutes of Health; CA138962), and Mars Symbioscience.
The WHI program is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through contracts HHSN268201600018C, HHSN268201600001C, HHSN268201600002C, HHSN268201600003C, and HHSN268201600004C.” The authors thank the WHI investigators and staff for their dedication, and the study participants for making the program possible.
DB2
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Study receives support from Mars Symbioscience (chocolate company) and Pfizer Inc (vitamin company).
Thanks DB2.
Steve
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This study has a serious omission flaw.
I would like to point out that during the study, ZERO people on the cocoa extract were attacked by Dementors.
AW
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I was an ongoing participant in that study for almost five years.
Turns out, I was in the control group.
I would like to point out that during the study, ZERO people on the cocoa extract were attacked by Dementors.
That we know of.
DB2
Not surprisingly, the local “news” anchors were atwitter about this “report”. Then they called in their Doc to get his take on the report. He noted that the improvement only lasted two years, then flatlined. He also noted that the same sort of study was done previously, for a much longer term, 12 years, and found zero benefit.
So the “news” anchor chirped “wouldn’t hurt to take vitamins anyway”.
Steve
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There are number of sub-studies using the data from COSMOS.
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Not surprisingly, the local “news” anchors were atwitter about this “report”
That means it worked…the purpose of Science By Press Release and the chosen method of communicating scientific research to the general public. Via press release…glorified advertising copy from the various research institutions…almost always “the first to show” or a surprise to the quoted study authors…and always without the benefit of peer review.
It’s not a new phenom…
https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/10/28/the-disturbing-tre…
…in fact, things have escalated to the point that even preprints are now finding their way into the popular press.
It’s as big a Red Flag on suspect science as funding sources.
I don’t know. If Pfizer’s involvement was only donating the vitamins and placebos, that doesn’t sound like much leverage to influence the result, such as they were.
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I don’t take a daily multivitamin, but the pandemic prompted me to take more supplements. However, I’ll probably take a multivitamin when I travel in the future.
If you take a multivitamin, there are reasons to take other supplements as well:
- They’re almost never in the form of oil-filled softgels. This means you won’t absorb the fat soluble vitamins, such as Vitamin D3.
- They usually don’t offer much Vitamin D3. That’s good, because the optimum dosage varies for everyone. So it’s better to just offer a small amount and leave it to the users to take a separate Vitamin D3 supplement to make up for the shortfall.
- Some but not all multivitamins have selenium. So if yours does not, then you need to eat a Brazil nut or take a separate selenium supplement.
- Some but not all multivitamins have iodine. Again, if yours does not, then you need to take a separate iodine supplement.
- Multivitamins don’t have Omega 3 fatty acids.
- Multivitamins don’t have Vitamin K2. Two forms of K2 are needed - MK4 and MK7.
Some other shortcomings of multivitamins (which are the reason that they haven’t been part of my daily routine) are these:
- There’s a limit on how much of the water soluble vitamins your body can absorb at once. This is especially true for Vitamin C. I make my own homemade vitamin water, which I have described in more detail in another thread.
- Multivitamins have both copper and zinc. While both of these minerals are essential for proper immune system function (and other reasons as well), they compete for absorption in your intestines. I have separate standalone copper and zinc supplements and take them on alternate days to ensure good absorption of both.
I was an ongoing participant in that study for almost five years.
Turns out, I was in the control group.
It’s also possible that taking part in message board discussions on a regular basis reduces cognitive impairment. It is already known that regular social activities have somewhat of a similar effect. And it is already known that game playing has a similar effect.
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It’s also possible that taking part in message board discussions on a regular basis reduces cognitive impairment.
Did you ever read PA? Taking part in message board discussion may well increase cognitive impairment.
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Did you ever read PA? Taking part in message board discussion may well increase cognitive impairment.
LOL! I stayed far away from PA.