Six-week supplement linked to sharper memory in postmenopausal women

Healthy postmenopausal women who took a multicomponent dietary supplement for six weeks scored better on a computerized test of overall cognitive ability than women who received a placebo, according to a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in BMC Nutrition.

The trial enrolled healthy postmenopausal women and assigned them in a 1:1 ratio to either the active supplement or a matching placebo for six weeks. Cognitive performance was measured at baseline and again at study completion using the CNS Vital Signs computerized neurocognitive battery. The primary endpoint was the Neurocognition Index, a composite score of global cognitive performance, while secondary endpoints covered individual domains including Memory, Visual Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and Executive Functioning. All analyses used ANCOVA adjusted for baseline scores, a statistical approach that accounts for each participant’s starting performance and isolates the change attributable to the intervention.

Sixty-three participants completed the study and entered the efficacy analysis, thirty in the active treatment group and thirty-three on placebo. Women taking the supplement showed a significant improvement in the Neurocognition Index compared with placebo, with an adjusted mean difference of 5.89 points and a 95 percent confidence interval of 1.27 to 10.52, corresponding to p = 0.013. Because the confidence interval excludes zero, the result is statistically robust at the conventional threshold, though the width of the interval reflects the modest sample size.

Secondary outcomes reinforced the global finding. Memory improved by an adjusted 7.86 points relative to placebo, with p = 0.020. Cognitive Flexibility, the capacity to shift between different mental tasks or rules, rose by 7.57 points, with p = 0.039. Visual Memory, the domain covering recall of visual material, gained 7.97 points, with p = 0.030. Executive Functioning, which governs planning and goal-directed behavior, showed a favorable trend that approached but did not reach statistical significance, at p = 0.053.

Not every domain moved in the same direction. The researchers report that Complex Attention produced a significant result that differed from the overall pattern of favorable effects. The abstract does not specify the magnitude or exact direction of this divergence, so the finding should be read as a signal that the supplement’s effects were not uniform across all measured cognitive functions.

The ingredients were selected for their individual mechanistic associations with cognitive health.

The authors conclude that six weeks of supplementation was associated with improved global cognitive performance and selected memory- and executive-related domains in healthy postmenopausal women, and they frame the findings as supporting a potential role for targeted nutritional supplementation in cognitive support during the postmenopausal period. They also call for larger studies to confirm the results and to evaluate long-term effects, an important caveat given the short duration of the trial and the modest number of completers.

Several limitations deserve emphasis. The study was small, with only sixty-three participants in the efficacy analysis, and it lasted just six weeks, leaving open whether any benefit would persist with longer use. The published abstract describes associations between supplementation and cognitive scores; it does not establish a mechanism or demonstrate effects on daily cognitive function, clinical outcomes, or long-term brain health. The article was shared early as a peer-reviewed, accepted manuscript carrying a permanent DOI, and the final Version of Record may include further edits. Ethical approval was documented under reference NNGYK/08530-2/2025.

The significant gains in Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, and Visual Memory, alongside the near-significant Executive Functioning trend, suggest the formulation merits replication in larger and longer trials before any conclusions about routine use can be drawn. The divergent Complex Attention result also underscores that a single composite score can mask domain-specific effects, and future studies may benefit from reporting each cognitive domain in detail.

Subject of Research: A randomized trial of a multicomponent dietary supplement on cognitive function in healthy postmenopausal women

Article Title: Impact of a novel dietary supplement on cognitive function in healthy postmenopausal women: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Article References: Kozma, B., Rátonyi, D., Kunkli, A., Kozma, B., & Takacs, P. (2026). Impact of a novel dietary supplement on cognitive function in healthy postmenopausal women: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. BMC Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-026-01535-6

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40795-026-01535-6

Keywords: postmenopausal women, cognitive function, dietary supplement, randomized controlled trial, pyrroloquinoline quinone, GABA, caffeine, B vitamins, Neurocognition Index, memory, executive function, BMC Nutrition