Can taking a multivitamin reverse ageing? No, but there is emerging evidence that it can slow it down.
And after reading and analysing the latest study, COSMOS, published in the highly regarded journal Nature Medicine, I’m now taking a multivitamin myself – and will be recommending others do so, too.
We’ve come a long way as doctors since the days when the idea that vitamin pills could help people stay healthy was dismissed as a joke.
As a medical student, I remember the phrase ‘expensive urine’ being confidently used by one of our professors to settle the argument.
Anyone suggesting supplements might have a role was seen as naive.
And to be fair, much of the evidence at the time was observational: people who took vitamins tended to be healthier in general – they exercised more, smoked less, drank less and ate better. So you could never be sure whether it was the tablet making the difference, or the type of person taking it.
And no one wanted to fund the kind of expensive study needed – where a group taking a pill is compared with a group on a placebo. A cheap multivitamin isn’t going to make drug companies a lot of money.
That is why the COSMOS trial matters – showing most doctors have got it all wrong when it comes to multivitamins.
Professor Rob Galloway, who at 48, has started taking a daily multivitamin, a sensible, low-risk decision to improve his cognition as he ages
In the study, which was carried out in major academic centres in the US, including Harvard University, participants – men aged 60 and over and women aged 65 and over – were randomly assigned to take either a daily multivitamin or an identical-looking dummy pill (a placebo).
Those taking the multivitamin were given a standard product you can get off the shelf (the UK equivalent is Centrum 50+, £28 for 180 tablets, but there are plenty of others that are similar).
Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was taking what, which removes bias and makes the results far more reliable (if you see a difference between the two groups, you can confidently say it’s because of the tablet they’re taking).
Truth be told, the first major results – published in 2022 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition – were disappointing, suggesting the multivitamins had no effect on cancer and cardiovascular illness.
For while there was a 7 per cent reduction in deaths in the multivitamin group, the study simply wasn’t big enough to prove this wasn’t due to chance.
The study involved 20,000 participants – but to be confident that a difference that small is real, you’d need a trial of well over 100,000 people. To my thinking, however, if there was even a small chance multivitamins reduce the risk of dying early, I would argue it’s reasonable to take them, as they’re cheap – costing around 10p a day – widely available and generally very low risk.
But what changed the debate was what came next: cognitive studies from the same trial – also published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, but a year later – showed a statistically significant slower decline in memory and overall cognitive function compared with the placebo group.
Then came the most recent analysis, published this year, which looked at biological ageing.
This involved analysing blood samples taken from a subgroup of participants at the start of the study and then years later – using newer techniques not widely available originally.
The researchers looked at patterns of DNA methylation, small chemical changes that occur on our DNA over time and are strongly linked to ageing.
To my thinking, writes Professor Galloway, if there was even a small chance multivitamins reduce the risk of dying early, I would argue it’s reasonable to take them, as they’re cheap – costing around 10p a day – widely available and generally very low risk
You can guess what’s coming – people taking multivitamins aged more slowly over the two-year study, so they were biologically three months younger than the placebo group.
And those who had older biological clocks than their chronological age benefited even more.
The most likely explanation is not that the vitamins and minerals are doing something magical, but that they are correcting small, cumulative deficiencies that we do not routinely measure or even recognise.
Over time, even subtle shortfalls in micronutrients can affect cell function, repair mechanisms, inflammation and brain health. None of this is dramatic in the short term, but over years it may contribute to the slow decline we see with ageing.
There is growing evidence from other studies that other nutritional factors may influence ageing and health – for instance, omega-3 fatty acids, compounds in coffee and anti-inflammatory nutrients (such as those found in turmeric) have all been associated with potential benefits.
The bigger point is, it’s likely that nutrition itself is a far more important determinant of long-term health than doctors traditionally acknowledged.
For years, we have tended to focus on genes and drugs and surgery, as though they are the main drivers of outcome.
But increasingly, that view looks outdated and we’ve now finally caught up with what those in the complementary nutritional world have been saying for years.
But it is important to be honest about the limitations of the study – these were older adults.
We do not have the same level of evidence in younger people – although there’s no clear biological reason to think the effect would suddenly disappear in younger people. Which is why, at 48, I’ve started taking a daily multivitamin.
I don’t think it will transform my health overnight. However, the balance of evidence has shifted just enough to make it a sensible, low-risk decision to improve my cognition as I age and potentially help me live longer and in good health.
Meningitis B jab must be given to teens
The information that’s emerged since the recent meningitis outbreak in Kent supports teenagers being vaccinated against meningitis B – and the Government should urgently review its current position, which is to offer the jab only to babies.
If the bacteria are spreading more easily, then the risk of catching meningitis has increased.
At the same time, we are dealing with a generation whose immune systems are not what they were – reduced exposure to infections during the pandemic, combined with the potential longer-term damaging effects of Covid, means young people are more vulnerable than assumed.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises the Government on which vaccines should be offered.
For years, it has concluded that vaccinating teenagers against meningitis B is not cost effective, even though the vaccine itself is clinically effective (i.e. it cuts the risk of catching meningitis B and of becoming seriously ill with it).
The Government must ask the JCVI to look again at this in light of what we’re now seeing – because once the risk shifts, the economics shift as well.
Meanwhile, we are seeing the emergence of a two-tier system. Families who can afford it are going privately for vaccination – and those who can’t are exposed to a heartbreaking risk.
We cannot wait for slow bureaucracy as the meningitis risk evolves. The new university term is imminent, and soon young people will mix and live in close quarters, which is exactly how meningitis spreads.
We must prioritise the health of those who have not yet started to live their lives.
