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Multivitamin

Multivitamins featured article

Introduction

Micronutrient deficiencies are widespread. Up to 70% of Americans don’t get enough vitamin D, nearly 50% fall short of their magnesium needs, and 35% have an insufficient intake of calcium.

These deficiencies and insufficiencies ravage our health. Inadequate vitamin D increases mortality risk. A magnesium deficiency can accelerate biological aging. Folate deficiency by itself can produce a level of DNA damage that is equivalent to or in excess of an acute exposure to radiation (although this occurs at levels uncommonly seen in human populations).

Addressing these deficiencies seems to hold a remarkable benefit. For example, correcting vitamin...

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Episodes

micronutrients

How Multivitamins and Sulforaphane Support Healthy Aging

Posted on November 14th 2025 (10 months)

Dr. Rhonda Patrick reviews multivitamins for cognitive aging and sulforaphane for DNA protection and detoxification.

supplements

Which Supplements Matter Most After Age 65?

Posted on February 3rd 2026 (8 months)

Dr. Rhonda Patrick reviews vitamin D, omega-3s, multivitamins, magnesium, creatine, and melatonin for adults over 65.

supplements

Multivitamins and Vitamin D After 65: What the Evidence Shows

Posted on February 27th 2026 (7 months)

Dr. Rhonda Patrick reviews COSMOS multivitamin findings and discusses how omega-3, magnesium, and vitamin D needs vary among older adults.

Topic Pages

  • Biological Age Clocks

    Biological age clocks estimate organismal ageing by algorithmically integrating DNA methylation, transcriptomic and proteomic biomarkers into predictive models.

  • COSMOS Trial

    Multivitamin supplementation constitutes one randomized intervention arm within the COSMOS Trial assessing effects on cancer and cardiovascular outcomes.

  • Multivitamins

    Multivitamins are formulations containing multiple essential micronutrients; the singular “multivitamin” denotes one unit or dose of that formulation.

News & Publications

  • Daily multivitamin altered metabolic markers in older adults, but aging-clock findings were not statistically significant. doi.org
    Aging Biomarkers Omega-3 Micronutrients Multivitamin

    A daily multivitamin produced several suggestive metabolic changes in older adults, including higher DHA and total omega-3 levels, but the broad aging and disease-risk findings did not meet corrected statistical thresholds.

    Researchers analyzed blood samples from 399 generally healthy participants in COSMOS, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Participants were about 70 years old on average and received either a standard Centrum Silver multivitamin-mineral supplement or placebo for two years. The investigators measured 168 metabolites and applied seven metabolomic aging clocks and 24 metabolomic disease-risk scores.[ref doi='10.1007/s11357-026-02197-9']

    Compared with placebo, the multivitamin group showed nominal increases in DHA and total omega-3 levels and a smaller rise in creatinine. The omega-3 result is intriguing because the supplement contained no omega-3 fatty acids. Micronutrients could influence fatty-acid metabolism or incorporation, but the study did not establish that mechanism or show that DHA mediated any cognitive benefit.

    All seven metabolomic clocks moved directionally toward slower aging, with estimates corresponding to about 0.5 to 1.1 years over two years. Sixteen of 24 disease-risk scores also moved in a favorable direction at the nominal threshold. However, none of the clock or disease-risk-score findings remained statistically significant after accounting for multiple comparisons, and the clock estimates were not significant even before that correction.

    That caution is central. The researchers evaluated roughly 200 outcomes, creating many opportunities for chance findings. Multiple-comparison correction helps distinguish a reproducible signal from an apparent result that may arise simply because so many tests were run. Failing that correction does not prove every signal is false; it means the study is hypothesis-generating rather than confirmatory.

    The most defensible conclusion is that a multivitamin may influence measurable aspects of metabolism in older adults, and the coherent direction of several signals warrants targeted replication. The study does not prove that multivitamins slow biological aging or prevent the diseases represented by metabolomic risk scores.

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  • A daily multivitamin slowed measures of biological aging in older adults. doi.org
    Cocoa Epigenetics Multivitamin

    Multivitamins are among the most widely used dietary supplements, yet evidence that they influence biological aging remains limited. To see whether a simple daily multivitamin could affect that process, researchers tracked changes in epigenetic clocks, which are blood-based tools that estimate biological aging using chemical marks on DNA that influence how genes are used.

    This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial included 958 generally healthy participants from the COSMOS study, with an average age of 70. Blood samples were collected at the start of the study, after one year, and after two years. Participants were assigned to one of four groups: a daily multivitamin–mineral supplement, a daily cocoa extract containing 500 milligrams of cocoa flavanols including 80 milligrams of epicatechin, both supplements, or matching placebos.

    • Over two years, the multivitamin slowed changes in two epigenetic clocks, PCPhenoAge and PCGrimAge. This corresponded to roughly 2.7 to 5.1 fewer months of biological aging over the study period.
    • The strongest effects appeared in participants who already showed faster biological aging at the start of the trial.
    • The multivitamin also affected parts of the epigenetic clock GrimAge, with changes in DNA patterns linked to telomere length (the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes) as well as beta-2 microglobulin, cystatin C, and growth differentiation factor 15, which are markers associated with inflammation, kidney function, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
    • However, the multivitamin did not produce clear effects on three other epigenetic clocks: PCHorvath, PCHannum, or DunedinPACE.
    • An exploratory analysis of a subset of participants showed that those with lower nutrient-related biomarkers at the start of the study tended to show faster epigenetic aging, and larger improvements in those biomarkers were linked to more favorable changes in the aging clocks; in people with faster aging at baseline, the multivitamin especially increased folate and lutein.
    • Cocoa extract did not slow aging on any of the five clocks.

    Vitamins and minerals participate in biological processes that shape molecular aging signals, including gene regulation, antioxidant defense, and the control of cellular stress. Inadequate micronutrient availability can disrupt these systems, contributing to chronic inflammation, oxidative damage, and metabolic strain, all processes linked to accelerated biological aging. Because epigenetic clocks capture patterns across many of these physiological signals, improvements in overall nutrient status could plausibly shift them.

    These clocks are still indirect markers rather than direct measures of disease or lifespan. That means the real-world health importance of these changes remains uncertain. Even so, the findings add to growing evidence from the COSMOS trial that daily multivitamin use may improve biological markers linked to aging and chronic disease risk. In this clip, the late Bruce Ames explains why taking a multivitamin-mineral supplement can serve as nutritional insurance for your diet.

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