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• Study suggests vitamins, minerals lower risk of aging-related diseases

Study suggests vitamins, minerals lower risk of aging-related diseases

April 01 2026. A substudy of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial revealed lower metabolomic risk scores for 16 chronic diseases among men and women who received a daily multivitamin/mineral. Metabolomics involves the study of metabolites: byproducts of the body's metabolism that are found in the blood. Research has determined that some metabolites change in response to specific vitamins. Individual metabolomic profiles have been associated with the incidence of health conditions and diseases.

"We tested the long-term effect of multivitamin/minerals . . . on changes in metabolomics profiles from three different approaches, including individual metabolites, metabolomic clocks of biological aging, and metabolomic risk scores for chronic diseases," Sidong Li and colleagues wrote. They hypothesized that multivitamin/minerals "would result in specific changes in circulating metabolites that may contribute to and help explain the benefits observed for several aging-related chronic diseases."

The two-year COSMOS trial compared the effects of a multivitamin/mineral formula plus a cocoa extract, a multivitamin/mineral plus a placebo, cocoa extract plus a placebo, or both placebos in older men and women.

The current substudy included 399 individuals who provided blood samples at the beginning of the COSMOS trial and after one and two years. In comparison with a placebo, multivitamin/minerals were associated with an increase in DHA and omega-3 fatty acid levels. Multivitamin/minerals lowered metabolomic risk scores for major adverse cardiovascular events and cardiovascular disease subtypes, asthma, cataracts, dementia, glaucoma, kidney disease, liver disease, nonmelanoma skin cancer and prostate cancer after two years of follow-up; however, adjustment of the data reduced the significance of the findings. Nonsignificant reductions in measures determined from metabolomic clocks of biologic aging were also revealed in individuals who received multivitamin/minerals. "Despite the limited sample size, COSMOS provides preliminary evidence that daily multivitamin/minerals . . . may modestly improve metabolomic profiles in older adults," Li and associates concluded.

The findings were reported March 30, 2026, in Geroscience.

—D Dye

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