As we age, the epigenetic patterns in our cells change. These changes can provide clues about our biological age. A study now suggests that multivitamin supplements may help older people slow down these biological clocks. However, the effects are small: within two years, individual epigenetic changes slowed down by around four months. In addition, it is still unclear to what extent the differences found at the genetic level actually influence healthy lifespan.
Chemical attachments to our DNA – so-called epigenetic modifications of our genome – determine which genes are read and to what extent. Over the course of our lives, these epigenetic patterns on our DNA change. This allows them to provide information about our “biological age,” which can differ from our calendar age. Studies have already shown that some of these epigenetic clocks are linked to our health and our lifespan. It is hypothesized that slowing or reversing molecular changes could extend healthy lifespan. However, direct evidence is still lacking.
Impact on epigenetic clocks
Now a team led by Sidong Li from the Chinese University of Science and Technology in Hefei has evaluated data from 958 people with an average age of around 70 years who received a multivitamin preparation, a cocoa preparation or a placebo over two years. In order to record the effects on biological age, the researchers used blood samples at the beginning and end of the study to analyze how far five epigenetic clocks had progressed in their test subjects.
The result: “Taking multivitamin-mulimineral preparations daily for two years had a small but significant positive effect on two out of five epigenetic clocks,” reports the research team. The epigenetic age markers grouped under the name PCPhenoAge ticked an average of 2.6 months slower when taking vitamin supplements per year, while the clock called PCGrimAge ticked 1.4 months slower. There were no significant effects in three other epigenetic clocks examined. The cocoa preparation that was also tested, which promises health benefits through phytochemicals, did not slow down any of the biological clocks examined in the study and therefore did not show any detectable effects on aging.
Practical significance remains unclear
The effects of the vitamin preparation were somewhat more pronounced in people whose biological age at the start of the study was above their calendar age, i.e. who appeared physically older than their date of birth would suggest. In them, the epigenetic marker PCGrimAge progressed more slowly by 2.8 months per year. “People with accelerated aging could potentially benefit more from vitamin supplements,” explain the researchers.
However, it is unclear to what extent the observed effects actually affect healthy lifespan. “If it does turn out that vitamin supplements can slow aging, even slightly, it would have major implications for public health recommendations and guidelines,” write Daniel Belsky and Calen Ryan of Columbia University in New York in an accompanying commentary. “The data from the current study take us one step closer to providing such evidence, but uncertainties remain.”
Li and his colleagues also write: “Further studies are needed to investigate the clinical relevance and to find out whether the effects of vitamin supplements on epigenetic clocks, for example, help reduce age-related chronic diseases.” Since the current study only included people who did not suffer from chronic illnesses over the entire observation period, this question cannot be answered based on the previous data.
Source: Sidong Li (University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China) et al., Nature Medicine, doi: 10.1038/s41591-026-04239-3