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March 9, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Taking a multivitamin could slow some signs of aging, new study suggests<\/p>\n A new study shows that taking a daily multivitamin could boost longevity, but the results aren\u2019t conclusive<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Mensent Photography\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Multivitamins are the most common dietary supplement in the U.S. People take these pills (or gummies, indeed) for a variety of health reasons, but the science on what multivitamins may do for your health is mixed, and none of them are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But intriguingly, a new study suggests that taking a daily multivitamin could slow biological aging.<\/p>\n In a randomized clinical trial involving 958 adults aged 60 or older, researchers found that taking a multivitamin-multimineral supplement for two years modestly slowed two molecular signals for aging in the body known as \u201cepigenetic clocks.\u201d Chemical changes on DNA called DNA methylation in specific parts of the genome can help estimate a person\u2019s biological age. In the people who took the supplement, the clocks\u2019 rate of increase slowed by around 1.5 to two months per year compared with the clocks of those who took a placebo. The findings were published Monday in Nature Medicine.<\/p>\n The results are \u201cencouraging,\u201d the researchers write in the paper, adding that more research is needed to understand how multivitamins effect biological aging.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Experts who were not involved in the new study urged caution. While the researchers saw an effect with two epigenetic clocks called PCPhenoAge and PCGrimAge, three other epigenetic clocks included in the study showed no statistically significant change to their speed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe multivitamin produced small favorable changes in two epigenetic aging markers, but not across all the clocks that were measured,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Ordov\u00e1s, a professor of nutrition and genetics at Tufts University, who was not involved with the study. \u201cThat makes the finding interesting, but it is still far from showing that multivitamins broadly slow aging or improve longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the study\u2019s strengths is that the researchers carefully matched the characteristics of people in the vitamin group to those in the placebo group, says Zachary Clayton, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz, who was also not involved with the research. \u201cHowever, the magnitude of the observed differences was modest, and their clinical significance remains uncertain,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The study doesn\u2019t take a person\u2019s exact diet or physical activity during the two-year period into account, and those factors can\u2019t be ruled out as having an effect on biological aging, he adds.<\/p>\n Still, in nutrition science, randomized clinical trials of this kind are rare. They aren\u2019t generally required to sell supplements like multivitamins, even if the makers claim specific health benefits. Additional trials, the authors note, \u201care needed to confirm these findings and determine the role of [multivitamins] in extending healthy aging not only among older adults, but also across the lifespan.\u201d<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 9, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Taking a multivitamin could slow some signs of aging, new study suggests A new study shows that taking a daily multivitamin could boost longevity, but the results aren\u2019t conclusive By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron Mensent Photography\/Getty Images Multivitamins are the most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[4191,23667,181,7469,188,3415],"class_list":{"0":"post-46271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-aging","9":"tag-multivitamin","10":"tag-signs","11":"tag-slow","12":"tag-study","13":"tag-suggests"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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