Have you heard the news? A new study has suggested that the simple act of taking a multivitamin, just once a day for two years, might slow some markers of biological aging. Eternal youth could be bought at bargain basement prices – at your local Boots! Or could it…?

What is biological aging?

‘Chronological age tells you when you were born. Biological age tells you how you are ageing, and unlike your birthday, it can be changed,’ says Dr Dorsa Jalaei, preventative health consultant at Reborne, a London hospital specialising in longevity medicine.

Your age, measured in the number of candles on your last birthday cake, is a blunt instrument in the world of precision medicine, says Dorsa. By contrast, biological age is more revealing: ‘It measures the physiological condition of your cells, tissues and organs – the actual state of your biology at a molecular level. Two individuals, both aged 50, may have biological ages that diverge by a decade or more. One may carry the cellular profile of a 42-year-old. The other may be tracking closer to 61.’

The best method for measuring biological age uses epigenetic clocks, molecular biomarkers that measure biological age by analyzing DNA methylation patterns. It’s these that the new study focused on. More than 900 healthy study participants – with an average age of about 70 – were split into four groups. One group took a daily cocoa extract and multivitamin, another took a cocoa extract and a multivitamin placebo. The third swallowed the daily cocoa extract placebo and multivitamin, and the fourth group took two placebos daily.

Two years on, blood samples were analysed for changes in five different measures of DNA methylation. Compared with those swallowing a placebo, those who took a daily multivitamin exhibited a slowdown in biological ageing for two of the five epigenetic clocks – most excitingly, those used to estimate mortality risk. Overall, it equated to roughly four months less biological ageing over the timespan.

Why does it matter?

A biological age that runs ahead of your chronological age, known as biological age acceleration, is associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, frailty and all-cause mortality, explains Dorsa.

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Conversely, ‘a biological age younger than your chronological age is associated with sustained cognitive function, cardiovascular resilience, metabolic health and extended physical capability,’ she says. ‘The individuals who age best, in molecular terms, tend to live longer in better health, with longer periods of independence and meaningfully greater healthspan.’

So should we all take multivitamins now?

‘The honest answer, supported by the weight of current evidence, is, for most healthy adults eating a reasonably varied diet, no,’ says Dorsa.

Several large, well-designed randomised controlled trials have failed to demonstrate meaningful mortality reduction or disease prevention from standard multivitamin supplementation in well-nourished populations. ‘A multivitamin does not address the root causes of biological age acceleration,’ she points out.

What does work then?

‘Across the most rigorous longitudinal studies in human health, the same picture emerges with remarkable regularity,’ says Dorsa. ‘The foundations of biological age are not found in a capsule. They are found in the quality and pattern of how you eat, move, sleep and manage stress across decades of life.’