- A two year trial suggests a daily multivitamin may modestly slow biological ageing in older adults.
- The effect was small, seen most clearly in two of five epigenetic ageing clocks and was greater in people who were biologically older at the start.
- It is an interesting finding, but not a reason to oversell multivitamins or treat them as a substitute for a decent diet and lifestyle.
Researchers analysed blood samples from 958 participants in the COSMOS trial to see whether a daily multivitamin changed measures of biological ageing.
The participants were older adults with an average chronological age of around 70. They were followed for two years.
Compared with placebo, daily multivitamin supplementation modestly slowed the rate of ageing on two of the five epigenetic clocks studied, PCGrimAge and PCPhenoAge.
Cocoa extract did not show an effect on any of the five clocks.
The researchers said the overall difference worked out to roughly four months less biological ageing over two years. Benefits were greater in those who started out with accelerated biological ageing.
That sounds good, but the effect was not large.
Independent experts have already pointed out that the change was modest, not seen across all markers and does not yet prove a meaningful real world health benefit on its own.
So this is not evidence that a multivitamin will suddenly make people biologically younger in any dramatic sense.
It is better read as a small signal that nutritional adequacy may influence ageing biology in some older adults.
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The study also cannot tell us that everyone should start taking a multivitamin.
It does not replace the basics, such as diet quality, physical activity, sleep and not smoking. Still, it is a worthwhile finding.
