Can a Multivitamin a Day Slow Down Aging?

What if a simple daily supplement could "slow down" your body's aging from the inside? A new study followed elderly people for two years and revealed that vitamins and minerals can subtly slow down the biological clock of cells. But not everything worked as expected: cocoa, for example, showed no effect. The big question now is: do these changes in DNA really mean living longer and better?

With the advancement of science, researchers are trying to answer an age-old question: is it possible to slow down biological aging? Unlike the age shown on documents, biological aging is related to the body's actual state, that is, how "old" our cells and tissues are. A recent study investigated whether a common supplement, composed of vitamins and minerals, could influence this process.

To understand this research, it is first necessary to explain how scientists measure the body's aging. One of the most modern techniques analyzes something called DNA methylation. DNA is the genetic material present in all cells and functions as an instruction manual for the body.

Methylation is a chemical process that adds small molecules to DNA and can alter how certain genes function. Over time, the patterns of these chemical marks change in predictable ways, allowing scientists to estimate the "biological age" of cells.

Using this information, researchers have created tools known as "biological clocks." These clocks are mathematical models that analyze thousands of points in DNA to estimate the rate at which the body is aging.

Some of these models can also predict the risk of age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular problems or cognitive decline. The faster these clocks advance, the greater the rate of aging in the body tends to be.

In the new study, scientists followed nearly a thousand elderly people for two years. Participants were randomly divided into different groups, a method called a randomized clinical trial, considered the most reliable standard for testing treatments.

One group received a daily supplement containing various vitamins and minerals, similar to multivitamins sold in pharmacies. Another group received a supplement made from cocoa extract, rich in plant compounds called flavonols. A third group received a placebo, a substance with no active effect used only for comparison.

Throughout the study, researchers collected blood samples from participants and analyzed DNA methylation patterns using genetic sequencing technologies and computational models. These methods allowed them to observe whether the supplements were altering the speed of so-called biological clocks.

The results showed that daily use of multivitamins and minerals had a small positive effect. On average, participants who took the supplement showed a modest slowdown in some of the biological clocks analyzed. This means that, over time, cellular aging appeared to occur somewhat more slowly in these individuals. The effect was more visible in people who already showed signs of accelerated biological aging at the beginning of the study.

The supplement made from cocoa extract, however, showed no detectable effects on these aging indicators. This suggests that, at least under the conditions tested, cocoa flavonols did not influence the rate of aging as measured by biological clocks.

Despite the promising results, the researchers emphasize that the observed effects were relatively small. It is still unclear whether this slowdown in molecular markers actually translates into concrete health benefits, such as living longer or having fewer diseases. Therefore, further studies will be needed to confirm whether the prolonged use of multivitamins can indeed contribute to healthier aging.

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Effects of daily multivitamin-multimineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic aging clocks in the COSMOS randomized clinical trial

Sidong Li, Rikuta Hamaya, Haidong Zhu, Brian H. Chen, Alexandre C. Pereira, Kerry L. Ivey, Pamela M. Rist, JoAnn E. Manson, Yanbin Dong, and Howard D. Sesso

Nature Medicine. 9 March 2026

DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04239-3

Abstract:

Large-scale randomized trials have found that multivitamin–multimineral (MVM) supplements and cocoa flavanols may benefit several age-related chronic conditions among older adults, but it remains unclear whether these two supplements directly slow the biological aging process. This prespecified ancillary study evaluated the 2-year effect of a daily MVM (Centrum Silver) and cocoa extract (500 mg cocoa flavanols per day, including 80 mg (−)-epicatechin) on five DNA methylation measures of biological aging (PCHannum, PCHorvath, PCPhenoAge, PCGrimAge and DunedinPACE) among 958 participants (482 women and 476 men) in the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS). Compared with placebo, daily MVM supplementation modestly reduced the rate of increase of second-generation epigenetic clocks, with a between-group difference in yearly change of −0.113 years (95% confidence interval (CI) −0.205 to −0.020; P = 0.017) for PCGrimAge and −0.214 years (−0.410 to −0.019; P = 0.032) for PCPhenoAge. MVM had a stronger effect on PCGrimAge among those with accelerated biological aging at baseline (−0.236 [−0.380 to −0.091]) compared with those with normal or decelerated biological aging (−0.013 [−0.130 to 0.104]; P = 0.018 for interaction). Cocoa extract did not have an effect on the five epigenetic clocks tested. Although the statistically significant but small effects of daily MVM supplementation on slowing biological aging are encouraging, additional studies are needed to determine the clinical relevance of daily MVM supplementation on epigenetic clocks and whether such effects can help explain the beneficial effects of MVM supplementation on aging-related chronic conditions.