Don’t Forget to Take Your Vitamins

Researchers tested the effects of a daily multivitamin on cognitive changes in a study of 573 participants with in-person visits in the COSMOS trial. The researchers also conducted a meta-analysis among over 5,000 non-overlapping participants across the three separate cognition studies within the COSMOS trial. Results showed a statistically significant benefit for cognition among participants taking the multi-vitamin compared to placebo, suggesting that a multi-vitamin could help prevent memory loss and slow cognitive aging among older adults.

Mass General Brigham. “Third major study finds evidence that daily multivitamin supplements improve memory and slow cognitive aging in older adults.” ScienceDaily – https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240118122110.htm (accessed January 19, 2024).

I forgot to take my vitamins today until this article caught my eye.

Got Peripheral Neuropathy? Check Your B6 Intake

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is in lots of multivitamin and mineral supplements that can be bought in supermarkets, health food shops and pharmacies without a prescription. Many people are not aware that vitamin B6 can cause peripheral neuropathy, which results in tingling, burning or numbness usually in the hands and feet. Taking vitamin B6 even at low doses can cause peripheral neuropathy but people are more likely to get it if they are taking more than one supplement.

  • Peripheral neuropathy can occur at doses of vitamin B6 less than 50 mg and when people are taking multiple products containing vitamin B6. The risk appears to vary between people – no minimum dose, length of use or underlying risk factors were identified.
Health supplements containing vitamin B6 can cause peripheral neuropathy – https://www.tga.gov.au/news/safety-alerts/health-supplements-containing-vitamin-b6-can-cause-peripheral-neuropathy#topofpage

Always understand too little AND too much of anything can be bad.

I did a tiny bit of research on this topic after a doctor’s comment on Med Twitter.

Interesting.