Daily Multivitamins Linked to Modest Slowing of Epigenetic Aging in COSMOS-Mind Substudy of Older Adults
Observational and interventional data associate daily multivitamins, aerobic fitness, and plant-rich short-term diets with slower biological aging measured by epigenetic and KDM clocks. Effects are modest and preliminary, lacking confirmation on clinical events. Evidence quality is moderate, driven by one moderate-sized RCT and two larger observational or short-term studies.
Three recent reports converge on modifiable inputs for biological aging. The multivitamin arm measured DNA methylation via established clocks after 24 months and recorded small but statistically significant deceleration. A separate treadmill cohort of 24,576 adults quantified cardiorespiratory fitness and reported graded reductions in incident disease and mortality. A 4-week crossover feeding study tracked KDM biological age after plant-forward diet switches and observed transient narrowing of the age gap. These signals align with prior COSMOS findings on cognition and cancer but remain biomarker rather than hard-event outcomes. Absolute differences are small (months, not years), and none of the trials were powered for mortality. Funding from supplement manufacturers and short intervention windows limit causal claims for longevity. Next steps require larger, longer RCTs with adjudicated clinical endpoints and diverse populations. Until then, the data support routine physical activity and nutrient-replete diets more firmly than routine supplementation.
COSMOS investigators: No significant difference in adjudicated cardiovascular events or all-cause mortality at 5-year follow-up (p>0.05).
Sources (3)
- [1]COSMOS-Mind Multivitamin Substudy(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2024.XXXX)
- [2]Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Lifespan Cohort(https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.XXXXX)
- [3]Short-term Diet and KDM Age in Aging Cell(https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acel.XXXXX)