A big study found that taking a multivitamin every day might slow down how fast the body ages, especially for older people whose bodies were aging faster at the start.
Scientists from Mass General Brigham looked at data from a long‑term trial called COSMOS. They compared people who took a multivitamin for two years with those who took a placebo. The results showed that the multivitamin group aged about four months less, according to DNA‑based “epigenetic clocks.”
How Biological Age Is Measured
Biological age tells how old the cells in our body seem, which can be different from the number of years we have lived. Researchers use epigenetic clocks that read tiny chemical tags on DNA called methyl groups. These tags change as we get older, so they act like a built‑in clock.
What the Study Did
The COSMOS trial included 958 healthy adults with an average age of 70. Participants were split into four groups: multivitamin + cocoa, cocoa only, multivitamin only, and placebo only.
Blood samples were taken at the start, after one year, and after two years. Scientists looked at five different epigenetic clocks to see how quickly the participants’ bodies were aging.
Key Findings
People who took a multivitamin showed slower aging on all five clocks compared with the placebo group. Two of the clocks, which are linked to the risk of death, showed a clear slowdown.
The overall effect was similar to gaining four months less of biological aging over the two‑year study. The biggest benefit was seen in participants whose biological age was already higher than their calendar age when the trial began.
What This Could Mean for the Brain and Health
Researchers say more work is needed to know if the slower aging leads to better brain health or lower chances of diseases like cancer or cataracts. The COSMOS team will keep studying these possibilities.