For most of us, maintaining and even strengthening our memory as we get older becomes almost an obsession. Forgetting a name or an event becomes a moment of panic. Not recognizing someone you’ve previously met causes a crisis of confidence in your brain.  Wondering about what day of the week it is or what upcoming plans you’ve made becomes a source of stress and dismay. Is this normal or is something else sinister going on in my head? Admit it: if you’re an older adult, you’ve likely had these moments of meltdown. So whatever we can do to shore up and sustain our brains and memory we’re likely to jump at the chance.

And it’s not just you. A recent post from Columbia University discussed the growing health issue of  “subjective cognitive decline” among older women. What this describes is your own sense or feeling that your memory and thinking are worsening but on a standard test, nothing would likely turn up. It’s a subjective feeling that’s associated with the subsequent development of dementia, but it’s not something you’re likely to bring up with your physician or be asked about if you display no symptoms. Columbia is piloting a program to screen for this in the offices of OBGYNs, who often have the closest relationship with older women among the medical professions. But the existence of this underscores the need for the development of testing and screening to assess and diagnose this condition (and thus possibly intervene with effective strategies early) before irreversible symptoms appear. In fact, a simple new test to predict the risk of developing cognitive impairment years into the future among those who currently show no symptoms was just unveiled in the journal Neurology. While more work needs to be done to validate and determine the broader use of this test, it does indicate that researchers are hard at work trying to identify those who may experience diminished memory or cognitive impairment well before any symptoms arise. For more on this study, memorize your flash cards and click here.

In the meantime, new research studies suggest ways to think about shoring up your memory and thinking right now, whether or not you are experiencing subjective cognitive decline. You may recall (if your memory is working well!) that back in September 2022 we wrote about the use of a multivitamin to support better memory health. A just-published follow-up study to that research, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, strengthens the argument that a daily multivitamin can improve memory performance in older adults. In this study, over 3500 participants aged 60 and above took a daily multivitamin (in this case Centrum Silver for adults) for one year and were subsequently assessed and compared to a placebo group for a period of 3 years. Those taking the multivitamin showed significantly better memory performance than those in the placebo group. While no one is yet suggesting that you start such a vitamin regimen (and the advice to get your vitamins and nutrients through a healthy diet continues to be recommended), researchers confidently state that “our study suggests that multivitamins may be a simple and inexpensive way for older adults to slow down memory loss.” For more on this exciting research, read here, and for a bit of practical skepticism about this research, listen here.

Finally, a companion study to this vitamin study once again looked at the impact of flavanols (found in fruits, vegetables, and even dark chocolate) as another way to mitigate the impact of age-related memory loss. While not everyone in this new study benefited from flavanol supplementation, those who were assessed to be flavanol-deficient significantly improved their performance on memory tests when given flavanol supplements.  Researchers are beginning to believe that just as babies and young children need special nutrients to help with brain development, so too may older adults need special fortification of certain nutrients to ward off such age-related maladies as memory loss. So grab some apples (skin on please), grapes, and green tea, and read more here.