A daily multivitamin may slow signs of biological ageing

Published in Nature Medicine, the paper noted that these effects were stronger in people whose biological age (which relates to the health of their cells and tissues) was already older than their chronological age (how many years old they are).

On average, older people who took a multivitamin supplement daily had a biological age four months younger than those who didn’t.

What else did the study find?

The researchers looked at blood samples from just under 1,000 participants of the US’ COSMOS study – a randomised, double-blind trial.

Participants had an average age of 70. Some people took multivitamins, and others didn’t.

Blood samples were taken three times: at the start of the study, and 12 and 24 months after that.

The scientists calculated the biological age of the people in the research by looking for five biological ageing “clocks” in their blood.

These “clocks” had to do with the patterns on DNA, changes in which have been linked to a person’s ageing.

After comparing the blood samples, the researchers noted that people who took daily multivitamins showed signs of slower ageing in two of these “clocks”, which were associated with mortality risk.

Speaking to Nature, study author Howard Sesso said research like this is “not just identifying how to live longer, but also how to live better”.

He noted taking multivitamins “appeared to be on that type of trajectory over two years”.

Does that mean multivitamins will definitely keep me younger?

We don’t know for sure, yet.

The paper said that though “statistically significant but small effects of daily MVM [multivitamin] supplementation on slowing biological ageing are encouraging”, additional studies are needed to explore this further.

Still, speaking to Nature, geroscientist Steve Hovarth (who was not involved in the study), said: “This is a very interesting and rigorous study… The public appetite for knowing whether everyday supplements can genuinely slow ageing is enormous.