Large-scale screening of common dietary supplements identified early signals associated with slower biological aging. Digest
Supplements are widely used by people hoping to slow aging, but most have little human evidence linking them to biological age measures. To identify which products might warrant more rigorous testing, researchers examined whether their use was associated with epigenetic age (a DNA-based estimate of biological age) in a large group of health-focused adults.
You just missed this in your inbox
Every other week our Premium Members received this exact study plus Rhonda's practical commentary and 8+ other hand-picked papers.
The study analyzed 4,260 adults who had taken at least one saliva test for epigenetic age and provided information on their supplement use, medication use, and health-related factors. Among participants with complete questionnaire data, the average age was about 54. Roughly 71% reported supplement use, giving the researchers enough data to screen 84 commonly used supplements. The researchers then examined whether supplement users tended to have an epigenetic age that was higher or lower than expected for their actual age. A smaller group of 755 participants had repeat tests, allowing the researchers to examine whether those age estimates tended to move lower or higher over time.
- Adults who reported taking a delayed-release calcium-alpha-ketoglutarate (dAKG) supplement with added vitamins had biological age estimates about 1.8 years lower than expected for their actual age. The difference was 1.27 years when the comparison was narrowed to users and non-users with similar health and lifestyle profiles.
- The pattern did not clearly extend to regular alpha-ketoglutarate. That makes it unclear whether the association reflected alpha-ketoglutarate itself, the delayed-release formulation, the added vitamins, or other differences among users.
- Several other supplements looked promising at first, including carotenoids, calcium, CoQ10, curcumin, vitamin D3, and NAD+ boosters. But most of these early links faded after more careful statistical testing.
- Among people tested more than once, CoQ10 and dAKG users were more likely to see their biological-age estimates move in a younger direction. However, that signal also fell short under the more rigorous analysis.
Many of the supplements that showed positive signals in this study have plausible roles in aging biology, from antioxidant defense and inflammation to vitamin signaling, mitochondrial function, and cellular energy metabolism. The clearest finding, however, centered on dAKG. Alpha-ketoglutarate is a central metabolite in cellular energy production and also serves as a cofactor for enzymes involved in epigenetic regulation, including processes linked to DNA methylation, the molecular pattern used to estimate epigenetic age. The weaker results for the other supplements should not be read as evidence that they have no health value. Instead, they suggest that any effects they may have were not clearly captured by this specific epigenetic-age measure and dataset.
One limitation of the study is that it was observational, so it cannot prove that any supplement lowered biological age. Supplement quality, dose, frequency, and duration were also not reported. For now, product claims based on biological age scores should be treated cautiously, with greater weight placed on controlled trials showing benefits on established biomarkers, physical function, or disease risk. In this clip, Dr. Steve Horvath discusses whether epigenetic clocks play causal roles in aging.