Vitamins may be beneficial to many people, and certainly they are a multibillion dollar business. Most people think that daily vitamins are good for them, even though the data showing benefit for 99% of the population that takes them is truly lacking. However, do vitamins boost your memory? If so, we would be impressed. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition decided to find out.
Researchers looked at 4,500 French men and women from age 40 to 60 who took vitamin and mineral supplements for eight years, to see how it affected their memory. They then compared this group to a placebo group who took a supplement that did not contain any of these vitamins or minerals.
According to the study they found that the groups that took the supplement and the placebo really ended up performing similarly on most memory tests. But the ones who got the nutrients did a little bit better on one (of multiple) tests of long-term memory.
We want you to know that we do take this study with a grain of salt (but not a multivitamin) because the differences were small enough that we think they could be explained by multiple testing chances. We’re not overly impressed, and we do not support the idea that supplements can improve your memory based on this study. You may need nutrients for optimal memory, but receiving them from a diet that includes fresh fruits, grains and vegetables seems like a better plan to us.