Barely a week goes by when we aren’t introduced to another anti-ageing strategy that promises to prevent wrinkles and promote longevity. But now comes one that works and won’t cost a fortune. Howard Sesso, an epidemiology researcher at Mass General Brigham in Boston and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, revealed this week that popping a cheap, standard daily multivitamin may be enough to slow the body’s ageing process.
For a study in Nature Medicine, Sesso and his colleagues revealed that a group of over-sixties who took a multivitamin every day for two years had a “biological age” that was, on average, four months younger than those who did not take the capsules. Sesso told the New Scientist that any benefits come with low risk: “There’s been no deleterious effects of a daily multivitamin that we’ve identified so far,” he said.
Previously, some of his colleagues had reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that a daily multivitamin also helps to keep our brain sharp as the years roll by. For that trial in 2023, researchers asked 3,500 healthy adults aged 60 or over to take a daily multivitamin supplement — they used Centrum Silver, available as Centrum Advance in the UK and costing £5.25 for 30 tablets from Boots — or a placebo for three years. After the first year, those taking the vitamin tablet had improved cognitive function quite significantly. If they continued popping the pill, cognitive enhancements were sustained at a rate equivalent to a three-year age-related drop in memory decline by the end of the three-year trial.
But what else — if anything — works in the war against time? We asked the experts what other supplements might be worth taking to enhance everything from ageing muscles to immunity.
• Do multivitamins work? What supplements actually do
Vitamin D3
How it helps: Our main source of vitamin D is sunlight but the skin’s ability to synthesise vitamin D and our exposure to sunlight both tend to drop as we get older, raising the risk of deficiency. It is essential for maintaining the health of bones, teeth, muscles and immune function. “We know that it is involved in inflammatory pathways and has a role in systemic inflammation which links it to many chronic diseases,” says Dr Linia Patel, a researcher in the department of clinical sciences and community health at the Universita degli Studi di Milano in Italy and a spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, says. Last year, a large study involving 900 over-fifties in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggested a daily 50mcg (or 2,000 IU) supplement of vitamin D3 taken for four years seemed to slow one of the biological mechanisms linked to ageing. Compared with a placebo, the vitamin D pill helped slow the shrinkage of telomeres — the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes — which tend to shorten as we age. The researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said the vitamin might work by dampening down inflammation in the body that is often associated with diseases of ageing. Patel says to make sure the supplement is the D3 form as it is more active and slightly more effective than plain vitamin D. “It’s also a fat-soluble vitamin, so taking it with a little olive oil helps absorption,” she says.
How much to take: The government recommends all age groups take a 10mcg (400 IU) supplement in the winter months. High-strength supplements contain up to ten times that amount (100mcg) but if you take one, do check you are not also getting vitamin D from other sources such as fortified foods and multivitamins.
Vitamin C
How it helps: Vitamin C plays an important role in supporting immune function and also helps the body to produce collagen needed for the healing and maintenance of healthy skin and blood vessels. It is also important for maintaining muscle health as we age, as researchers at the University of Cambridge and University of East Anglia showed in a study of about 13,000 middle aged and older men and women in The Journal of Nutrition.
Ailsa Welch, professor of nutritional epidemiology at the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Norwich Medical School, found that people with the highest amounts of vitamin C in their diet or blood had the greatest estimated muscle mass, compared with those with the lowest amounts. It seems the vitamin helps to defend cells and tissues against harmful free radicals that would otherwise speed up destruction of muscle — and its role may be more important for muscle health in women than men. “There is growing evidence that [vitamin C] may protect the cells in our bodies from damage due to injury, inflammation and the ageing process,” Welch says.
Fruit and vegetables are the best sources, but a supplement can bridge the gap if you are not getting your five a day. Liposomal vitamin C supplements have a protective cap of lipids around the vitamin C that supposedly protects it from being destroyed by stomach acid and helps it to enter the bloodstream more effectively. “But there are many different liposomal production methods and some are cheaper and less effective than others,” says Alex Ruani, nutrition researcher at University College London and chief science educator at the Health Sciences Academy.
How much to take: UK recommendations state that anyone aged 15 and older needs 40mg vitamin C per day; under 15s need 30-35mg daily. Many supplements contain higher doses but the NHS suggests sticking to under 1000mg a day. Vitamin C is water soluble meaning excess levels are excreted in urine.
Vitamin B12
How it helps: A vitamin needed for healthy blood and nerve function, B12 also helps to break down homocysteine, a protein that is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and strokes. You will find it in animal products such as meat, fish, dairy and eggs and some fortified foods such as cereals and plant milks, but natural plant-based sources don’t exist. Our body’s ability to store B12 is limited and, since absorption of the vitamin drops with age, deficiency is a risk. “When we are older we produce less stomach acid and this affects the release of B12 from foods,” Ruani says. “It also interferes with the way the nutrient is absorbed.”
A supplement is non-negotiable if you are vegan, vegetarian or follow a strict plant-based diet but it’s worth checking with your GP for a blood test if you are concerned that levels are low. “Too little can raise cardiovascular and cognitive risks,” Ruani says. Even a slight drop in levels of B12 can cause confusion and memory loss, according to researchers from the University of California. Reporting in the Annals of Neurology, they showed that older people with lower concentrations of B12, but still in the normal range, displayed signs of cognitive decline.
How much to take: Adults need 1.5mcg of B12 a day. The NHS says that taking up to 2mg a day or less of vitamin B12 is unlikely to cause harm, but more than that could be problematic.
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Omega-3
How it helps: Omega-3 fatty acids are the “good” fats in seeds, nuts and oily fish. They are known to play a role in heart health, brain and immune function. “About 20-25 per cent of the brain’s dry weight is composed of polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega-3s account for 10-15 per cent of those so we definitely need them for brain health as we get older,” Ruani says. The NHS recommends getting them by eating two portions of oily fish a week.
Although the evidence is mixed, some researchers believe that a daily omega-3 supplement can help to slow down the rate of biological ageing by as much as three months. Last year, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari of the University of Zurich asked healthy older adults to take a 1g omega-3 supplement either with or without vitamin D and, for some, alongside a strength training regimen or, for others, a placebo. Three years later those who had taken only the omega-3 pills had aged by around three months less than those who had a placebo. Bischoff-Ferrari assessed ageing biomarkers that measure age-reversing effects.
How much to take: Studies looking at the possible anti-ageing effects of omega-3 supplementation have used dosages of 1g daily.
Collagen
How it helps: Collagen is the body’s structural protein — the scaffolding that glues together tissues like bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and skin. As we age, natural collagen production slows and supplements derived from animal sources, such as beef or marine collagen from fish, are said to bolster dwindling supplies and protect ageing joints. “Hydrolised collagen peptides can be absorbed in the digestive system and into the bloodstream,” Ruani says. “And hydrolised marine collagen providing 500 Daltons, a molecular weight that will be listed on labels, is better absorbed than bovine or porcine-derived varieties.” Ruani says it has helped her joint and back pain but only if she takes it daily. “When you stop, the effects subside,” she says.
It can also boost the skin, to some extent. A recent review in Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum involved almost 8,000 participants and, according to Lee Smith, professor of public health at Anglia Ruskin University, while “not a cure-all”, collagen supplements show “clear benefits in key areas of healthy ageing”, including significant relief from osteoarthritis symptoms and modest benefits for muscle mass and tendon structure. Skin hydration and elasticity also improved with long term use, but wrinkles were not erased.
How much to take: Most trials use doses of 2.5-10g daily of collagen. “Taking collagen with 30-50mg of vitamin C seems to enhance the effects,” Patel says.
• Do you know what’s inside your ‘super’ supplements?
Beetroot extract
How it helps: Dietary nitrates, found in vegetables such as beetroot, spinach, rocket and other leafy greens, have gained attention for their vascular benefits. “These nitrates are converted via a chemical pathway into nitric oxide, which enhances vasodilation and supports function of the endothelium, the layer of cells lining the interior of blood vessels,” Patel says. “They support good vascular health which means better delivery of nutrients and oxygen around the body, including to the brain.” Beetroot shots or supplements provide a convenient dose of nitrates. Researchers at the University of Exeter showed last year that adults in their sixties and seventies who took a concentrated beetroot juice “shot” twice a day for two weeks, saw their blood pressure drop — an effect not seen in a younger group. Dietary nitrates could be particularly helpful to women whose risk of cardiovascular disease spikes after the drop in heart-protective oestrogen that occurs during the menopause. A Pennsylvania State University study found that a daily beetroot supplement improved blood vessel function enough to reduce future heart disease risk in post-menopausal women. “Beetroot juice can be very useful in protecting blood vessel health of mid-life women during a period of accelerating heart disease risk,” said David Proctor, professor of kinesiology and physiology, who led the study. A diet rich in plant-based nitrates, such as beetroot, was also shown to be related to lower rates of dementia in a 2024 Australian study.
How much to take: A 250ml daily shot of juiced beetroot provides up to 3,000mg dietary nitrates, the amount used as a standard dose in many studies.
Creatine
How it helps: Creatine is a compound produced naturally in the body that is also present in red meat and seafood. It plays an important role in cell regulation and in the regeneration of adenosine triphosphate, the compound that provides cells with the energy they need to function. Studies, including one in the journal Nutrients, have shown that combining creatine intake with resistance training brings positive results for older adults looking to offset age-related muscle-loss or sarcopenia. However, it is also gaining a reputation as a cognitive aid for mid-lifers. Patel describes research on creatine boosting cognitive function as we age “as super-interesting but not definitive”. Although it is known that supplementation increases creatine concentrations in the brain, “we are not yet sure how this relates to improved cognition and results from good quality studies are inconsistent”, she says. The European Food and Safety Authority rejected claims that creatine may improve cognition. “Where it could be helpful is in boosting cognition in sleep deprived people, with a paper in Nature journal showing that a single dose of creatine was beneficial,” Patel says.
How much to take: Safe doses of creatine are considered to be in the 3-5g daily range.
