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Taking a daily multivitamin could slow down biological ageing, giving people a "healthier, higher quality" later life. Experts have found that taking daily vitamins for two years cut biological ageing - how old the body is in terms of health and function - by four months on average. The recent trial, published in Nature Medicine, looked at biological ageing based on tiny changes to DNA, using the blood samples of 958 randomly selected healthy people with an average chronological age of 70.

Dr Howard Sesso, associate director of the division of preventative medicine at the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine in the US, and lead author of the trial, said: "There is a lot of interest today in identifying ways to not just live longer, but to live better. It was exciting to see the benefits of a multivitamin linked with markers of biological ageing. This study opens the door to learning more about accessible, safe interventions that contribute to healthier, higher-quality ageing."

Previous research on the use of multivitamins and health have produced mixed results, with one large study in 2024 showing no benefit when it comes to preventing early death.

Dr Sesso's trial examined specific sites in DNA that regulate gene expression, known as DNA methylation, treating them as markers of ageing.

Methylation patterns shift as the years go by, forming the basis for what scientists call "epigenetic clocks".

Experts looked for changes in five epigenetic clocks in the 958 samples at the start of the trial and the end of the first and second years.

They found that, compared with people taking the placebo drugs, those in the multivitamin group had slowing in all five epigenetic clocks.

The changes amounted to around four months less biological ageing over the course of two years. Further studies are underway to determine if the effects are long-lasting.

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Dr Sesso said: "A lot of people take a multivitamin without necessarily knowing any benefits from taking it, so the more we can learn about its potential health benefits, the better."

However, Dr Laura Sinclair, lecturer in healthcare and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Exeter, said epigenetic clocks are "only one piece of the ageing puzzle".

She continued: "This study doesn't recommend going out and buying supplements. If a person eats a nutritionally balanced diet, then many dietary supplements would probably be superfluous to their individual requirements.

"However, most adults in the UK are actually not eating a nutritionally balanced diet and so probably would benefit from a multivitamin-multimineral."

Dr Sinclair said the trial "provides evidence on the potential role of multivitamin supplementation in biological ageing" but cautioned that the effects observed were "limited".

"Within the broader context of diet and lifestyle, these results suggest that its impact would likely be complementary within wider strategies for promoting health and healthy ageing, rather than a standalone intervention with a decisive effect," she added.