Multivitamin Supplement Leads to Sharper Brains in Children

Taking a low-potency multivitamin and multi-mineral supplement is enough to improve cognition function in apparently healthy children, according to a study conducted at Northumbria University in England.

David O. Kennedy, PhD, and his colleagues gave supplements or placebos to 81 children ages eight to 14 years for 12 weeks. The children were assessed with a variety of computer-based tests before and after taking the supplements on the first and last day of the study, as well as after four and eight weeks. The cognitive tests focused on reaction time, symbol recognition, and memory.

"The most striking finding from the current study was a consistent pattern of enhancement across the attention task components of the battery ..." wrote Kennedy and his colleagues. Children taking the supplements had faster reaction times and were better able to distinguish between different images.

However, tests on the last day of the study found that the ability to recognize drawings decreased among children taking supplements. The researchers noted that this finding might have simply been due to chance.

Reference: Haskell CF, Scholey AB, Jackson PA, et al. "Cognitive and mood effects in healthy children during 12 weeks' supplementation with multi-vitamins/minerals." British Journal of Nutrition, 2008;100:1086-1096.