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According to a new Harvard study, multivitamin supplements act as a mini fountain of youth for older adults. After two years of taking it, her age markers were several months “younger.”
Even if it sounds nice: We are not only as old as we feel. Appendages on our DNA also reveal how old our body really is. Now lay one study in the renowned journal “Nature Medicine” suggests that certain vitamin preparations can influence these epigenetic age clocks – and slow down our biological aging.
Over a two-year period, this slowed age-related changes by up to 2.5 months. However, this effect was not evident in all age markers. It is also still unclear whether this also has a practical impact on our health, as the researchers also admit.
Way of life turns back “clocks”.
As we age, our cell metabolism and chemical attachments to our DNA also change. This epigenetic pattern influences which genes are read and to what extent. As we age, some of these DNA attachments are lost and others are added. Based on this epigenetic “clocks” The biological age of tissues and organs can therefore be estimated.
The interesting thing about it: We can also influence epigenetic deposits through our lifestyle. Studies show, for example, that just a few weeks of a special diet with lots of sleep and exercise can turn back the epigenetic clock in our organs. Omega-3 fatty acids or a vegan diet also seem to have a beneficial effect on epigenetic age.
Multivitamins act on age markers
Sidong Li from the Chinese University of Science and Technology in Hefei and her colleagues have now investigated whether special multivitamin preparations can turn back the epigenetic clock. To do this, they evaluated data from 958 seniors who had received a multivitamin preparation, cocoa extract or a placebo for two years. At the beginning and end of the study, the team used blood samples to record the state of five different epigenetic clocks in their test subjects.
The result: “Taking multivitamin-mulimineral preparations daily for two years had a small but significant positive effect on two out of five epigenetic clocks“, reports the research team.
- The one under the name PCPhenoAge summarized epigenetic age markers changed an average of 2.6 months slower per year due to the vitamin preparations,
- the watch with the name PCGrimAge by 1.4 months.
There were no significant effects in three other epigenetic clocks examined. The cocoa preparation also tested, which promises health benefits through phytochemicals, did not slow down any of the epigenetic clocks examined.
Older people in particular benefit
The effects of the vitamin preparation were somewhat more pronounced in people whose biological age at the start of the study was above their calendar age, i.e. who appeared physically older than their date of birth would suggest. In them, the epigenetic marker PCGrimAge progressed more slowly by 2.8 months per year.
“People with accelerated aging could potentially benefit more from vitamin supplements,” explain the researchers.
The current research data comes from the COSMOS study (Cocoa Ssupplement and Multimate vitamin Ooutcomes Study). Researchers want to determine whether daily intake of cocoa flavanols or a multivitamin reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. The preparation examined, “Centrum,” contains around 30 vitamins and minerals (100 percent of the recommended daily dose). The companies Haleon provided the multivitamins and Mars Inc. provided the cocoa powder for the study. According to the authors, however, these had no influence on the study design, implementation or analysis, which is carried out independently at a Harvard Medical School hospital.
The newly published aging study is an additional analysis of COSMOS data. Independent professionals complainHowever, the study was not designed for this. In addition, the observation period of two years is too short to assess a process as complex as aging. Important factors such as exercise or healthy nutrition were also not taken into account. Instead, they recommend eating a balanced diet with lots of fruit, vegetables and few heavily processed foods – the health benefits are much better documented here.
However, it is unclear to what extent the observed effects actually affect healthy lifespan. “If it turns out that vitamin supplements can slow aging – even slightly – it would have major implications for public health recommendations and guidelines,” write Daniel Belsky and Calen Ryan of Columbia University in New York in an accompanying paper Comment.
Further research is needed
But so far this has not been clearly clarified. Li and his colleagues also admit this: “Further studies are needed to investigate the clinical relevance and to find out whether the effects of vitamin supplements on epigenetic clocks, for example, help to reduce age-related chronic diseases.” Since only test subjects without chronic illnesses took part in the current study, this cannot yet be answered.
