Take your vitamins

Simple habit, good results.

Do these kinds of things ever happen to you?

• You put your keys in your jacket pocket, so they’ll be there next time you need them. Then you have to head out, and you wind up spending 30 minutes looking all over the house for your keys.

• You keep your vitamins right by the bathroom sink so you’ll remember to take them. Then, you put your toothpaste and mouthwash and other items in front of them, and forget all about the vitamins.

• You come across a fascinating new study based in neuroscience about a simple daily habit that can preserve memory as people age. It would make a good newsletter subject. Then, you can’t remember what journal the article was in.

It’s been said that all writing is autobiographical, and I admit that each of the examples listed above come from my personal experience.

Fortunately, I remembered eventually that the study I wanted to share today comes from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That’s good news, because the habit (foreshadowed in my first bullet point above, in fact), really is a ridiculously simple one to adopt.

Here’s the bottom line: When we’re talking about long-term efforts to boost memory and slow cognitive decline, researchers at Mass General Brigham say they’ve determined that simply taking a multivitamin each day has statistically significant benefits.

“Cognitive decline is among the top health concerns for most older adults, and a daily supplement of multivitamins has the potential as an appealing and accessible approach to slow cognitive aging,” said Chirag Vyas of the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, lead author.

The context is a large-scale, nationwide, randomized trial at Mass General Brigham called the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), which tests the benefits of both cocoa extract and multivitamin supplements. This is actually the third of three studies so far based on the trial; it focused more on “detailed, in-person cognitive assessments among 573 participants” from the larger study.

Worth noting: This whole discussion comes in the context of projections that by 2060, nearly 25% of Americans will be “in an age bracket at elevated risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease,” as a statement on the study put it, “unless interventions can help preserve cognitive function before deficits begin.”

Now, I suppose we have to give our old friend, “correlation vs. causation” its due when we talk about this research. But, given that we’re talking about something that takes maybe 10 seconds — taking a multivitamin (a habit that has other benefits, of course) — it seems a low-risk, high-reward habit to adopt.

Just don’t forget where you put the bottle.

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7 other things worth knowing today

• L.A. protests live updates: Police make 'mass arrests' after downtown curfew; immigration demonstrations grow across the U.S. In a speech Tuesday, President Trump said he wants to "liberate" Los Angeles. (Yahoo News)

• Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted Wednesday of one of the top charges in his sex crimes retrial but acquitted of another, and jurors were as yet unable to reach a verdict on a third charge. The split verdict meted out a measure of vindication to his accusers and prosecutors — but also to Weinstein — in the landmark case. (AP)

• A second night of rioting struck the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland, as anti-immigrant protests spread to several other areas and the police warned of “hate-fueled acts.” Police officers came under “sustained attack” with petrol bombs, bricks and fireworks on Tuesday evening, according to a statement from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and 17 officers were injured. (The New York Times)

• Brian Wilson, the pop music genius and singer who co-founded the Beach Boys, has died. He was 82. Described by PEOPLE in 1975 as the "formative genius of the group," Wilson served as the rock band's songwriter and co-lead vocalist and also played bass guitar and keyboard. (People)

• What Ending the U.S. Ban on Supersonic Flight Means for the Future of Travel: Passenger aircraft could fly from New York to Los Angeles in around two hours, but there are still challenges that stand in the way. (Gizmodo)

• The World Cup is one year away. Is the U.S. ready? (The Washington Post)

• Happiest employees in fast food? In-N-Out Burger, where 91% of workers would recommend the job to a friend, according to a new study. (Nation’s Restaurant News)

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Thanks for reading. Photo by Michele Blackwell on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.