Want a memory booster? Try vitamins and minerals

IN THE PINK OF HEALTH

New York: Adults who took vitamin and mineral supplements for almost a decade performed better on one type of memory test than those who didn't take the supplements, according to a new study from France. 

    The researchers say the findings suggest that getting enough nutrients could aid thinking and memory skills as people get older. Geraldine McNeill, a nutritionist at the University of Aberdeen in the UK, said some people – especially those deficient in vitamins and minerals – might get a memory benefit from boosting the nutrients in their diet. 
    Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot of the University of Paris XIII in France and colleagues write that the link between a higher intake of some nutrients and thinking and memory skills has been shown before in so-called observational studies. But those studies can't get at a cause-and-effect relationship. 
    "The question is, does the cognitive performance depend on the diet, or does the diet depend on the cognitive performance?" McNeill said. It's possible that people who have better thinking and memory skills might pay closer attention to what they're eating, she explained. 
    To try to get a clearer picture of the association, Kesse-Guyot and her colleagues conducted a study of close to 4,500 French men and women. In 1994, when the study participants were between 45-60 years, researchers split them randomly into two groups. Half of them took a daily supplement that included vitamins C and E, selenium, zinc, and beta-carotene for eight years. The others took a nutrient-free placebo pill each day. None knew whether they were taking the vitamin or the sham pills. 
    After eight years, researchers stopped giving participants their assigned pills, and they could choose on their own whether or not to take vitamin supplements. Six years after that, the investigators brought them back to the lab for a round of memory tests. The tests included word and number problems to measure different types of memory and "mental flexibility." 
    While the supplement and placebo groups performed similarly on most tests, the nutrient-boosted participants beat their peers on one test of long-term memory in which participants had to recall words in different categories. The "findings support a beneficial effect of a well-balanced intake of antioxidant nutrients at nutritional doses for maintaining cognitive performance, especially verbal memory." REUTERS