A new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition has shown that 12 weeks supplementation with vitamins and minerals improved children’s attention.
The study was carried out by British and Australian researchers at Northumbria University in Newcastle. The researchers recruited 81 children with an average age of 11 to participate in the randomised, double-blind placebo controlled study. The children were randomly assigned to daily multivitamin and mineral supplements or placebo for 12 weeks.
Laboratory assessments were used to measure the children’s cognitive performance; before the study, one and three hours after the first dose, and after 12 weeks.
On two tests of attention, results showed that the children in the vitamin/mineral group performed more accurately.
Lead researcher, David Kennedy wrote; “the most surprising facet of the improvement in attention task performance seen here is that it became evident by three hours post-dose on the first day”.
“To the best of our knowledge, the possibility that vitamins or minerals could exert behavioural effects after a single dose has not been explored.”
The researchers concluded, “the combination of vitamins, minerals and amino acids present … in the present study does not allow the results presented to be attributed to any one component. Further work in this area could examine the constituent parts of this treatment in more detail, perhaps focusing on attentional measures and including acute, as well as chronic, assessment”.