Daily multivitamin supplement lowers biological age in seniors

Highlights

  • Harvard and Georgia researchers undertook a study to test if a daily multivitamin and multimineral supplement (MVM) can reduce biological age
  • 958-participants roughly equal men and women (average age 70 yrs) took a daily MVM for 2-years
  • Their biological ages were tested with five biological age clocks
  • Two of the five clocks showed a modest but statistically significant decrease in biological age
  • The effect was stronger among subjects whose biological ages were higher than their chronological age

Biological clocks and what they tell us about health and longevity

Millions of people take once-a-day multivitamin and multimineral supplements (MVM) hoping to stave off disease and disability. A previous study showed that daily MVM usage among people 65 years or older slows down cognitive decline. Researchers from Harvard and Augusta University decided to explore whether long-term daily MVM usage among the elderly can have potential effect on lifespan. As a substitute for measuring actual lifespan, they chose to measure biological age of the subjects. These are tests that take as their input, the changes in DNA modifications called methylation, to calculate a person’s biological age.

Methylation changes, also called epigenetic changes, vary with age and health-factors. These changes at specific locations in our DNA happen at a steady pace as we age, allowing them to be used as a ‘clock’ for estimating a person’s age, based on the presence of absence of methylation marks at specific sites on their DNA. A key insight from the early published studies, was that some people’s biological clocks can show a lower biological age than their chronological age if they have better health factors, while some others can show higher biological age if they have poor health. Many other clock studies since then have demonstrated that a lower biological age compared to the persons chronological age is generally associated with better health and in some cases is predictive of a longer lifespan. Thus, biological age measurements are not only predictive of health and longevity, it is also actionable such that a person can take concrete steps to lower their biological age. A nice demonstration of this is the current study on daily MVM supplementation in the elderly.

A daily multivitamin & multimineral (MVM) supplementation in elderly people has a modest but clear effect on lowering biological age

This was part of a long ongoing study of MVM usage and its many potential effects by an ongoing study called the COSMOS trial. This group from the Harvard Medical School has been studying whether taking a daily dose of cocoa extract supplements (500 mg/day cocoa flavanols) or a common multivitamin and multimineral supplement can reduce the risk for developing many age-associated chronic disease such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, cognitive decline etc. Their current study, published in Nature Medicine, investigated whether daily cocoa flavonols or MVM can slow down biological aging.

Study was designed to tease out the effect of MVMs vs cocoa flavonols on biological aging. Here are the key study details:

  • The treatment was either a daily MVM (Centrum Silver®) or a cocoa extract (500 mg cocoa flavanols per day, including 80 mg (−)-epicatechin)
  • The current study recruited 958 participants, 482 women and 476 men, (average age 70 years) and randomized them into 4 groups.
  • The study had a so called 2×2 design. Each group received one of the following 4 daily treatments: 1) MVM or cocoa extract; 2) Placebo and cocoa extract; 3) MVM and placebo; 4) Only placebos. They took these for two years.
  • Their biological ages were measured at the beginning, middle (1 year) and end (2 years) of the study.
  • The following five biological age tests were used: Hannum, Horvath, PhenoAge, GrimAge and DunedinPACE.
  • All five tests showed a lowering effect on biological age with daily MVM supplementation, but not with cocoa extracts or placebo. The biological age-lowering effect was statistically significant for the GrimAge and PhenoAge tests.

An encouraging finding

Daily MVM use has been associated with lowering the risk of multiple age-associated chronic diseases. Was the reduction in biological age linked with lowering these risks? More studies are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism. Meanwhile, this is good news for elderly people who take a daily MVM.

Li, S., Hamaya, R., Pereira, A. C., et al. (2026). Effect of daily multivitamin-mineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic clocks of biological aging: 2-year findings from the COSMOS randomized clinical trial. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04239-3

Baker, L. D., Manson, J. E., Rapp, S. R., Sesso, H. D., Gaussoin, S. A., Shumaker, S. A., & Espeland, M. A. (2023). Effects of cocoa extract and a multivitamin on cognitive function: A randomized clinical trial. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 19(4), 1308-1319. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12767

Field, A. E., Robertson, N. A., Taliun, D., et al. (2018). DNA Methylation Clocks in Aging: Categories, Causes, and Consequences. Molecular Cell, 71(6), 882-895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2018.08.008

Warner, B., Ratner, E., Datta, A., & Lendasse, A. (2024). A systematic review of phenotypic and epigenetic clocks used for aging and mortality quantification in humans. Aging (Albany NY), 16(17), 12414–12427. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206098

Centrum Silver Adults 50+. Centrum®. https://www.centrum.com/products/multivitamins/centrum-silver-adults-50-plus/

The COSMOS Trial: COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study. https://cosmostrial.org/

Disclaimer

This content is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Healthspan interventions can have risks and may not be appropriate for everyone. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, supplements, medications, or health program.