Alternative Health Blog

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study involving 81 healthy children between the ages of 8 and 14 years of age, supplementation with a supplement containing multi vitamins and minerals for a period of 12 weeks was found to improve brain function. Specifically, children receiving the multi vitamins and minerals were found to perform better on 2 attention tasks. Mood, another outcome the authors were researching, was not significantly affected in any interpretable manner. The authors conclude, "Whilst it is possible that the significant improvements following treatment were due to non-significant numerical differences in performance at baseline, these results would seem to suggest that vitamin/mineral supplementation has the potential to improve brain function in healthy children. This proposition requires further investigation."
Reference:
"Cognitive and mood effects in healthy children during 12 weeks' supplementation with multi-vitamin/minerals," Haskell CF, Scholey AB, et al, Br J Nutr, 2008; 100(5): 1086-96