Daily Multivitamins May Slow Biological Aging, Reveals Study
USA: Findings from the COSMOS Trial, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that daily multivitamin–multimineral supplementation may slow biological aging markers in older adults. Significant improvements were observed in epigenetic clocks associated with mortality risk, particularly among individuals showing signs of accelerated biological aging. Earlier analyses from the same trial also reported that daily vitamin and mineral supplementation contributed to better cognitive performance among older adults.
Multivitamin–multimineral (MVM) supplements and cocoa-derived flavanols have been widely studied for potential health benefits in older adults. Earlier clinical trials suggest these supplements may reduce the risk of some age-related conditions, but their direct impact on the biological aging process remains unclear. To investigate this, researchers led by Sidong Li from the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School conducted a prespecified ancillary analysis within the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS).
COSMOS is a large randomized clinical trial designed to examine the long-term health effects of nutritional supplements in older adults. In this ancillary analysis, researchers evaluated whether two years of daily supplementation with a multivitamin–multimineral formulation or cocoa extract could influence biological aging markers. The study focused on DNA methylation–based biomarkers known as epigenetic aging clocks, which estimate biological age and predict risks of disease and mortality.
The analysis included 958 COSMOS participants, including 482 women and 476 men. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a daily multivitamin–multimineral supplement (Centrum Silver), cocoa extract providing 500 mg of cocoa flavanols per day including 80 mg of (−)-epicatechin, or a placebo. Researchers assessed five established epigenetic aging markers—PCHannum, PCHorvath, PCPhenoAge, PCGrimAge, and DunedinPACE—based on DNA methylation patterns used to estimate the pace of biological aging.
The trial revealed the following findings:
- Daily multivitamin–multimineral supplementation modestly slowed the progression of certain second-generation epigenetic aging clocks compared with placebo.
- Participants receiving MVM showed a slower annual increase in PCGrimAge, an epigenetic clock associated with mortality risk and aging-related outcomes.
- MVM supplementation was also associated with a reduced annual increase in PCPhenoAge, another biomarker linked to biological aging and health outcomes.
- The beneficial effects of MVM supplementation were more pronounced among individuals with accelerated biological aging at baseline.
- In this subgroup, the reduction in the progression rate of PCGrimAge was greater compared with individuals whose biological aging was normal or slower than expected.
- Cocoa extract supplementation did not produce measurable changes in any of the five epigenetic aging clocks evaluated in the study.
The researchers noted that while the observed effects of multivitamin–multimineral supplementation on biological aging markers were modest, the findings are encouraging. They suggest that regular intake of multivitamin supplements may influence molecular processes linked to aging. However, the authors emphasized that further research is needed to determine whether these changes in epigenetic aging markers translate into meaningful clinical benefits or help explain previously observed reductions in age-related diseases associated with multivitamin use.
Reference:
Li, S., Hamaya, R., Zhu, H., Chen, B. H., Pereira, A. C., Ivey, K. L., Rist, P. M., Manson, J. E., Dong, Y., & Sesso, H. D. (2026). Effects of daily multivitamin–multimineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic aging clocks in the COSMOS randomized clinical trial. Nature Medicine, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04239-3
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