The effects of micronutrient interventions on other domains were inconsistent .
Improvement in fluid intelligence among micronutrient-deficient children was consistently reported .
BACKGROUND & AIMS Micronutrients are essential for brain development with deficiencies in specific nutrients linked to impaired cognitive function .
Interventions are shown to be beneficial to children 's mental development , particularly in subjects who were micronutrient-deficient at baseline but results on healthy subjects remain inconsistent .
This systematic review evaluated the effect of micronutrient inventions on different cognitive domains .
Cognitive and mood effects in healthy children during 12 weeks' supplementation with multi-vitamin/minerals.
Adequate levels of vitamins and minerals are essential for optimal neural functioning . A high proportion of individuals , including children , suffer from deficiencies in one or more vitamins or minerals . This study investigated whether daily supplementation with vitamins/minerals could modulate cognitive performance and mood in healthy children . In this r and omised , double-blind , placebo-controlled , parallel groups investigation , eighty-one healthy children aged from 8 to 14 years underwent laboratory assessment s of their cognitive performance and mood pre-dose and at 1 and 3 h post-dose on the first and last days of 12 weeks ' supplementation with a commercially available vitamins/mineral product ( Pharmaton Kiddi ) . Interim assessment s were also completed at home after 4 and 8 weeks at 3 h post-dose . Each assessment comprised completion of a cognitive battery , delivered over the Internet , which included tasks assessing mood and the speed and accuracy of attention and aspects of memory ( secondary , semantic and spatial working memory ) . The vitamin/mineral group performed more accurately on two attention tasks : ' Arrows ' choice reaction time task at 4 and 8 weeks ; ' Arrow Flankers ' choice reaction time task at 4 , 8 and 12 weeks . A single task outcome ( Picture Recognition errors ) evinced significant decrements at 12 weeks . Mood was not modulated in any interpretable manner . 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
The effects of micronutrient interventions on other domains were inconsistent .
Improvement in fluid intelligence among micronutrient-deficient children was consistently reported .
BACKGROUND & AIMS Micronutrients are essential for brain development with deficiencies in specific nutrients linked to impaired cognitive function .
Interventions are shown to be beneficial to children 's mental development , particularly in subjects who were micronutrient-deficient at baseline but results on healthy subjects remain inconsistent .
This systematic review evaluated the effect of micronutrient inventions on different cognitive domains .