Chronological age measures how many years a person has lived. Biological age, by contrast, reflects how quickly the body is aging internally. Researchers have found that people whose biological age is higher than their chronological age tend to face greater risks of chronic diseases and earlier death.
Slowing down biological aging, some experts think, could help people live longer with fewer health issues.
“This study opens the door to learning more about accessible, safe interventions that contribute to healthier, higher-quality aging,” says senior author Howard Sesso, ScD, MPH, an associate director of the division of preventive medicine at Mass General Brigham in Boston.
Taking a Multivitamin for 2 Years Slowed Biological Aging by 4 Months
The latest findings come from a subset of participants enrolled in COSMOS (Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study), a nationwide clinical trial designed to test whether common supplements could influence aging-related health outcomes.
The analysis included nearly 1,000 adults who were 70 years old on average. Men and women were equally represented and 90 percent were white.
Researchers randomly assigned participants to receive one of four interventions:
- Multivitamin plus cocoa extract
- Multivitamin plus placebo
- Cocoa extract plus placebo
- Placebo only
The multivitamin tested in the study was Centrum Silver, a commonly available supplement formulated for older adults. Mars and Pfizer provided the supplements, and Mars provided partial funding for the study. Neither were involved in the study design or analysis.
Researchers analyzed blood samples at the start of the trial and again after one and two years, using five different epigenetic clocks to measure biological aging.
Epigenetic clocks analyze small chemical tags on DNA known as DNA methylation. These tags help regulate which genes are turned on or off and naturally change as people grow older.
After two years, results showed:
- Participants taking the multivitamin showed slower biological aging across all five clocks. Two clocks associated with mortality risk showed statistically significant improvements.
- The multivitamin group aged about four months less biologically compared with people taking a placebo — and participants who entered the trial with signs of accelerated biological aging appeared to benefit the most.
- The cocoa extract didn’t affect biological aging.
The manner in which biological aging changes over time, and interventions that can improve those trajectories, is “far understudied,” says Dr. Sesso.
“Biological aging has often been measured only once in observational studies. COSMOS gives us a rare opportunity to track how those aging markers change over time in a randomized trial,” he says.
“It’s nice to see that a simple and relatively safe everyday intervention can improve epigenetic aging markers in humans, particularly people ages 70 and over,” says Christopher Hine, PhD, a scientist in the department of genomic sciences and systems biology at Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the research.
Aging is the biggest risk factor for many conditions, he says. “If we can slow biological aging, we may be able to delay the onset of chronic diseases and extend the number of healthy years people live,” he says.
How Strong Is the Study?
Because the trial randomly assigned participants to treatments, lifestyle differences between groups were unlikely to explain the results, a major strength of the study, says Mark A. Espeland, PhD, a professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who has worked with the COSMOS research team in previous trials.
In general, you might assume people who take vitamins have other healthy habits that could influence aging, says Dr. Espeland. “But in a randomized clinical trial, those factors should be balanced between groups.”
Why Might a Multivitamin Affect Aging?
Researchers say it’s not yet clear exactly how a multivitamin might influence biological aging markers.
One possible explanation is that a broad mix of nutrients helps support cellular processes involved in metabolism, DNA repair, and inflammation. “A daily multivitamin-multimineral supplement is essentially a diversified investment with more than two dozen essential vitamins and minerals,” says Sesso.
Another possibility is that multivitamins help fill small nutritional gaps that occur even in people who eat healthy diets.
“I think all of us probably have some gaps in our nutrition. Even people who eat well may find it hard to consistently get everything the body needs every day,” says Espeland.
What Slowing Biological Aging Might Look Like
As biological age advances, Espeland says, adults can develop decreased muscle and bone health, metabolic dysfunction, decreased reaction times, and issues with memory and reasoning.
Because biological age is so variable, people of the same chronological age can sometimes look very different.
“One 85-year-old may be functionally and biologically younger, while another 85-year-old may be much older,” says Mia Yang, MD, an associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. Different rates of biological aging likely explain the physical and cognitive variation we see among older adults, she adds.
At a cellular level, slowing biological aging could help maintain healthy gene activity and prevent harmful DNA changes that accumulate over time — helping more people prevent or delay disability and cognitive decline as they get older.
But scientists emphasize that epigenetic clocks are still evolving as research tools.
Epigenetic clocks are useful for research, but they’re not yet something doctors can use in everyday medical care to predict future health conditions or outcomes, says Dr. Hine. Future studies may help determine whether improvements in these markers translate into lower risks of disease, he adds.
Does the Type of Multivitamin Matter?
The study specifically tested Centrum Silver, a multivitamin designed for older adults.
Researchers say it’s not yet clear whether other multivitamins would produce the same effects.
“Supplements that most closely resemble the one used in COSMOS have the best chance of producing similar results,” says Sesso.
In general, he recommends choosing a simple multivitamin containing essential vitamins and minerals at moderate levels. “Avoid ‘special formulations’ and keep it simple,” he says.
Dr. Yang says most standard multivitamins include the core nutrients the body needs, including vitamins A, C, D, E, and B vitamins, along with minerals such as zinc, magnesium, and calcium.
Still, she cautions against viewing supplements as a shortcut to longevity.
“There’s no single pill that can replace healthy lifestyle habits,” Yang says. Regular physical activity, nutritious eating patterns such as the Mediterranean diet, good sleep, and staying socially engaged remain the most reliable ways to support healthy aging.