Daily Multivitamin Intake May Help Slow Biological Ageing in Adults, Study Finds

A new study suggests a daily multivitamin could slow biological ageing in older adults. Learn how epigenetic clocks reveal the effects and what this means for healthy ageing.

A major clinical study has proposed that taking a daily multivitamin might help in reducing the rate of biological ageing in older adults. The positive effects were most prominent in people whose bodies were already ageing more quickly than anticipated at the start of the research. Scientists from Mass General Brigham examined data from a randomised clinical trial and found that taking multivitamins regularly for two years was associated with a small but significant slowdown in biological ageing.

The findings were published in the medical journal Nature Medicine. According to the researchers, the overall effect was similar to about four fewer months of biological ageing over the course of the study.

What Is Biological Ageing

Biological ageing is not the same as the number of years a person has lived. Rather, it refers to how quickly the body deteriorates at a cellular level. To measure this, researchers use tools called epigenetic clocks, which monitor tiny chemical modifications in DNA over time.

These changes, particularly DNA methylation patterns that affect gene activity, happen naturally as people age. By examining these changes, scientists can estimate how fast someone is ageing biologically and evaluate potential risks connected with illness and early death.

Study Design

The results are based on the COSMOS trial (COcoa Supplement and Multivitamins Outcomes Study), a long-term randomised controlled study involving older adults. In this analysis, researchers looked at blood samples from 958 healthy participants with an average age of around 70.

Participants were split into four groups: some took a daily multivitamin, some took cocoa extract, some took both, and others received placebos. This structure enabled scientists to compare the effects of multivitamins against no active treatment over time.

Key Findings

After one and two years, researchers evaluated changes in five different epigenetic clocks. Those taking multivitamins displayed slower biological ageing across all five measures compared to the placebo group.

Two of the clocks, which are closely related to the risk of death, showed statistically significant reductions in the rate of ageing. Overall, the results showed that multivitamin use led to a reduction in biological ageing of about four months over the two-year period. The most significant effects were observed in participants whose biological age was already higher than their actual age at the beginning of the study.

Health Implications

Experts involved in the research stress that more studies are needed to confirm whether these changes persist in the long term. Researchers also aim to explore whether slowing biological ageing could explain earlier findings that link multivitamin use with improved brain health and reduced risks of conditions like cancer and cataracts. They highlight that although many people already take multivitamins, additional evidence is required to fully understand their potential role in healthy ageing and disease prevention.