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Daily multivitamin use may slow biological aging: COSMOS trial results

36 points by hhs

by Selkirk

2 subcomments

Partially funded by entity related to manufacturer of daily multivitamins. Study was in people over 60 average age 70 if I recall. I didn't care enough to look, but the question I'd ask is how were the people who died during the study accounted for in the "biological aging testing?"

by I_Nidhi

0 subcomment

In biological age clocks, the kind COSMOS used, skin is one of the primary tissues researchers use to validate them. Epigenetic methylation patterns in skin cells are among the most studied markers precisely because skin is accessible and responds visibly to the same aging processes the clocks are trying to measure from blood.
The COSMOS trial gives everyone the same pill and measures a whole-body average signal from blood samples. It can't tell you which vitamin drove the effect or where in the body it's acting. It's a limitation of what a broad systemic intervention can tell you. The more targeted work is happening at the tissue level.
In skin specifically, L'Oréal and UC San Diego looked at 1,000+ subjects in 2024 and found that bacterial diversity in the skin microbiome correlates directly with both chronological age and wrinkle depth. They're building these as actual measurable aging biomarkers. Unilever's 2025 study also showed that people whose facial microbiome had higher Acinetobacter and lower Staphylococcus aureus were read as biologically 5–7 years younger. Many other companies are also researching biomarkers for skin anti-aging, and now the longevity trend is being seen in the food industry as well.
Microbiome as a modifiable aging clock is where the real specificity is starting to come from. I work in this space, and we recently mapped where this research is heading. We also did a session exploring the underlying science if you want to go deeper: https://greyb.com/resources/skin-microbiome-beauty/
L'Oréal Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging/articles/10.3389/... Unilever Study: https://academic.oup.com/bjd/article/193/Supplement_2/ii24/8...

by gnabgib

0 subcomment

Note the use of may
From Harvard: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319478
Nature: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47325135
sci.news: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47354653

by PyWoody

0 subcomment

Daily multivitamins are the quintessential Pascal Wager, in my opinion. There is no reason not to take them. At worst, you'll just urinate the excess out; at best, you'll supplement missing vitamins in your diet.

0 subcomment