A neuroscientist who studies brain aging says he started taking multivitamins because of his own research.

The conventional wisdom in the medical community was for a long time that multivitamins are useless. For years, study after study has found no benefit from taking a multivitamin a day.

Professor Adam Brickman, who studies the aging brain at Columbia University, told Insider that he hadn’t taken a multivitamin since he was a child until he began the most recent research on multivitamins for memory loss about six years ago.

“I’m as skeptical as anyone when it comes to this kind of thing,” Brickman said.

But several new and emerging studies—including his own—are starting to suggest that the truth about multivitamins is complicated.

Brickman is the author of a large, rigorous study published earlier this year that showed that men over 60 and women over 65 who took a daily multivitamin (in this case, it was Centrum) consistently scored better on common memory tests than those who took a placebo. A September 2022 study using different memory tests found similar results.

“When you see such consistency in well-designed studies, it certainly helps convince me — the biggest skeptic — that we’re on the right track,” he said.

These new findings suggest that the aging brain may get some small but real benefits from taking a multivitamin a day. As a result, Brickman started to incorporate a multivitamin into his daily routine.

“I started taking a multivitamin per day when I got the tests and saw the results, and I take it every morning,” he said.

Older adults may benefit more from vitamins than younger people

The impact of multivitamins on memory in these new studies was modest. Taking a multivitamin improved older adults’ scores on memory tests compared to those who took a placebo, but only marginally.

The multivitamin was not a miracle cure. Multivitamins did not eradicate Alzheimer’s disease or treat cognitive decline. Instead, taking a vitamin seemed to do a little to help with some of the common, subtle declines in memory that accompany normal cognitive aging.

Brickman said the multivitamin appeared to “save three years” of cognitive aging compared to a placebo pill. That’s not significant enough for people to notice the difference.

“You might not take a multivitamin and say, ‘Wow, my memory is so much sharper,’” he said.

But for Brickman, a data scientist, the benefit was impressive enough to influence his own choices at home.

“People who took the multivitamin had better memories at each follow-up visit, compared to those who took the placebo,” he said.

These positive findings about multivitamins are similar to other research showing that older adults may also benefit from adding important nutrients, such as protein and vitamin D, to their routines.

Scientists suspect one reason that older adults may benefit more from taking a multivitamin than younger people is that we become less efficient at extracting key nutrients from our foods as we age.

“There’s probably something to do with absorption,” Brickman said.

Nutrient-rich foods remain the best way for everyone to get their vitamins. Eating fresh produce, such as vegetables, whole grains, and beans, remains the most effective, direct, and safe science-backed way to get vitamins.