- New research suggests a daily multivitamin could help you live longer.
- The study focused on older adults.
- Experts say more research is needed.
Even though about 75% of Americans take a supplement regularly, there’s been a lot of debate about whether most people actually benefit from them. Now, new research suggests that one supplement, in particular, may slow down aging and therefore help extend your life.
The study, which was published in the journal Nature Medicine, analyzed the impact of multivitamin use in older adults and linked it to a few additional months of life. For the study, researchers used data from the COcoa Supplement Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) and analyzed data on DNA methylation (a sign of biological aging) from blood samples of 958 randomly chosen, healthy participants with an average age of 70.
The study participants were randomly assigned to take a daily cocoa extract and multivitamin, a daily cocoa extract and placebo, a placebo and a multivitamin, or two placebos. The researchers analyzed samples for changes in five different epigenetic clocks (a tool that uses biological markers to measure age) during several periods in the two-year trial.
After crunching the data, the researchers discovered that people in the multivitamin group had slower aging based on calculations from five epigenetic clocks. These indicated that the older adults had about four months less biological aging over the two-year study period. People who were biologically older than their actual age at the start of the study received the most benefit.
It’s important to point this out now: The study was partially funded by Mars Edge, a segment of Mars dedicated to nutrition research and products, and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (now Haleon) also provided pills and packaging used in the study. But those companies weren’t involved in the study design, data analysis, or final paper.
Meet the experts:Scott Keatley, R.D., is co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy; Jessica Cording, R.D.,is the author of The Little Book of Game-Changers; Eric Ascher, D.O., is a family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital; Sidong Li, M.D., lead study author and a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
It’s not cheap to take a daily multivitamin, and data has been mixed on how much their use may impact health, making it fair to wonder if this is a health hack worth pursuing. Here’s what dietitians and a doctor want you to keep in mind.
Why might taking a multivitamin slow biological aging?
It likely comes down to nutrition, says Scott Keatley, R.D., co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. “Filling gaps is a big part of how a multivitamin may help you,” he says.
In this particular study, daily multivitamin use significantly raised blood levels of carotenoids and vitamin E. “These are big antioxidants that help fight cellular aging,” Keatley says. “These increases emerged at year one and held steady into year two, suggesting consistent, meaningful nutritional support over time.”
Jessica Cording, R.D., author of The Little Book of Game-Changers, agrees. “When we’re covering our nutritional bases, whether through supplements or nutrition, it’s supporting more efficient mitochondrial functioning, which is a key factor in aging,” she says. “It also protects against deficiencies that might impair immune response and other factors involved in the aging process.”
Cording stresses that this study focused on older adults. “That is a population that is more prone to nutrient deficiencies,” she says.
But research hasn’t definitively concluded that taking a multivitamin helps you live longer. A 2024 JAMA Network Open analysis of data from nearly 400,000 healthy American adults who were followed for more than 20 years found no link between regular multivitamin use and a lower risk of early death.
Can you get the same perks from eating a balanced diet?
This study didn’t investigate that, but it’s possible, says Sidong Li, M.D., lead study author and a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “Maintaining a balanced and healthy diet is always the top priority for promoting healthy and high-quality aging,” Dr. Li says.
Eric Ascher, D.O., a family medicine physician at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital, agrees. “I recommend all my patients choose fresh fruits and vegetables—and a well-balanced diet—over multivitamins,” he says. (Dr. Ascher just points out that supplements are not tightly regulated by the FDA, making it hard to know for sure if the supplement contains what the label states.)
Keatley also recommends a food-first approach. “A genuinely well-rounded diet, one rich in tomatoes, leafy greens, colorful vegetables, nuts and seeds absolutely delivers these nutrients without a pill,” he says. “The challenge is that most people aren’t actually eating that way.” (Keatley points out that the placebo group in the study, which is likely made up of health-conscious people because they’re enrolled in a clinical trial, didn’t have gains in biological aging during the study period.)
Who may benefit from a multivitamin?
While multivitamins aren’t universally needed to be healthy, Cording says there are a few groups that may benefit:
- Older adults
- People with increased nutrient needs
- A person with a lot of food sensitivities
- Expectant moms
- Nursing moms
- Vegetarians and vegans
“It’s not uncommon to need a supplement as you get older,” Cording says.
Are there any downsides of taking a multivitamin?
Taking a daily multivitamin can be costly and, again, there’s no guarantee that you’re actually getting what the label states.
But people who take a multivitamin may feel a sense of “false security” that they’re covering all their nutritional bases, Keatley says. “People who feel covered by a pill are often less motivated to improve their actual diet, which delivers fiber, phytonutrients, protein, and food synergies no supplement can replicate,” he says.
Multivitamins may also cause digestive discomfort if you take them on an empty stomach, Cording says. “If you’re taking a multivitamin alongside other supplements, there is a risk of overdoing certain nutrients,” she says.
When it comes to the health impact of taking a daily multivitamin, experts agree that more work is needed. For now, Keatley suggests thinking of this supplement as an insurance policy. “It’s most valuable when the gap between what you need and what you’re eating is widest,” he says.
Dietary supplements are products intended to supplement the diet. They are not medicines and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure diseases. Be cautious about taking dietary supplements if you are pregnant or nursing. Also, be careful about giving supplements to a child, unless recommended by their healthcare provider.
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