Do multivitamins help with healthy ageing?
Daily multivitamins appear to offer some protection for the memory of older adults, but for most other aspects of healthy ageing the effect is small or absent. If you have a confirmed deficiency in vitamins or minerals, supplementing is certainly worthwhile; do not regard it as a miracle remedy.
Daily multivitamins probably help older adults maintain their memory a little better, but for most other aspects of healthy ageing the effect is small or unproven. The strongest evidence comes from memory research: in a study of more than 3,500 older adults, people who took a daily multivitamin for three years scored better on episodic memory than people who received a placebo. The effect appeared after just one year and was equivalent to reversing approximately 3 years of memory decline. A summary of three related studies confirmed this picture. Effects on other cognitive functions, such as object recognition or planning, were not found.
If you want to try a multivitamin for memory, choose a standard multivitamin that also contains minerals. Take one tablet per day and do so for at least one to three years. Whether the brand matters has not been studied.
When it comes to immune health: if you have a deficiency in vitamins or minerals, supplementing to recommended levels may improve your immune defences. Whether a multivitamin also helps when you have no deficiency has not been demonstrated. The only review on this subject was written by employees of a multivitamin manufacturer and contains no original trial data. Without a deficiency, a multivitamin for your immune health is not worth your money.
For maintaining muscle mass in older age, there is no evidence that a standard multivitamin helps; the topic has been too little studied to say anything definitive. Vitamin D can reduce the number of falls in older adults in a care setting who have low vitamin D levels, but does not demonstrably protect against the risk of falling in the first place. Whether this also applies to independently living older adults with normal levels has not been established.
Claims are based on PMID 37244291 (COSMOS-Web RCT and meta-analysis), PMID 30336639 (immune function review, funded by Bayer) and PMID 40832852 (Cochrane review on fall prevention). Conflicts of interest are explicitly noted for the relevant studies. The cognitive studies come from a single large research programme (COSMOS) by the same research group.
Does taking resveratrol make sense as an anti-ageing strategy?
For humans there is no convincing evidence that resveratrol supplements do anything against ageing; the animal research is interesting but has not yet translated into clinical practice, so hold off on supplements until better human data are available.
Does stem cell therapy work against ageing in humans?
For physical frailty in older adults there is one positive study in people. For all other ageing-related applications it is too early for firm conclusions. Stem cell therapy cannot yet be considered a proven anti-ageing treatment.
Does cold water swimming improve healthy aging?
For most healthy people, occasional cold water swimming is probably safe. Do you have cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure? Discuss it with your doctor first, because the blood pressure effects are considerable.
Does metformin help you live longer in good health?
For people with diabetes, metformin has a reasonably well-supported health benefit, but as an anti-ageing agent for healthy people it remains unproven. Wait for the results of that large ongoing study before drawing conclusions.
Do GLP-1 medications (such as Ozempic) help you age more healthily?
For people with cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, or fatty liver disease, GLP-1 medications offer proven benefits that are also relevant at older ages. As an anti-ageing intervention in healthy people, their use is not yet supported by evidence.
Does rapamycin help people live longer in good health?
Rapamycin works in mice, but whether it also leads to a longer and healthier life in humans has not yet been demonstrated. Side effects are real, long-term data in healthy people are absent, and use outside a clinical context cannot currently be justified.