Jordi Pérez-Tur
Research scientist at the Public Research Organisation (PRO) at the Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and principal investigator at CIBERNED
Summary of the study
"This study investigates the potential association between the consumption of multivitamin–multimineral supplements (MVM) with cocoa extract and biological ageing. The authors followed a cohort of 958 individuals aged over 60 (men) and 65 (women) who had no previous chronic diseases. The cohort was divided into four groups that, for two years, followed specific instructions regarding whether or not to consume cocoa extract and MVM supplements.
Participants were monitored periodically, analysing changes that accumulate in specific regions of DNA and that have been linked to ageing. These changes allow researchers to estimate a ‘biological age’, which may differ from chronological age. There are several methods for measuring biological age, and the study used five different approaches.
The study concludes that taking MVM supplements for two years appears to slow the rate of biological ageing according to two of these measures, known as ‘biological clocks’. In addition, participants who showed faster ageing before the intervention experienced a greater slowing of the ageing rate after taking MVM and cocoa extract.
No significant effects were observed for cocoa extract consumption alone. The researchers also examined the impact of the dietary intervention on certain inflammatory markers and, from a cognitive perspective, on the functioning of specific brain domains. These results were again interesting for some of the biological clocks analysed. However, the subgroup analysed for these outcomes was even smaller than the overall study population, so the findings should be considered preliminary and useful mainly as a basis for future studies".
Quality of the study
"As the authors themselves note in the abstract, further studies are needed to confirm and better define these results, particularly the clinical relevance of these supplements and their potential benefits for chronic diseases associated with ageing. A statistically significant result does not necessarily mean that the effect is biologically meaningful. In this study, only two of the five measures of ageing rate showed an effect, and the magnitude of that effect was relatively small (equivalent to only a few months).
Moreover, the study design can only demonstrate an association: the consumption of MVM supplements coincided with a modest reduction in the rate of ageing. The molecular mechanisms linking these observations remain unknown and cannot be addressed within the scope of this study. In other words, correlation does not imply causation (although it does not rule it out either)".
Implications and fit with existing evidence
"At present, the implications are limited because this is a relatively preliminary study. Although it provides interesting results, further complementary research will be needed to confirm them. Nevertheless, it provides a rationale for conducting such studies".
Limitations
"As mentioned above, the main limitation is that the observed effect is relatively small. This may partly reflect the size of the study groups, which included around 250 individuals each. Detecting effects of this magnitude may require larger populations.
In addition, the authors did not include other variables in their analyses that could influence the results, such as the participants’ diet or their level of physical activity, both of which can also affect the DNA modifications analysed in the study.
Finally, due to the study design, the participants were limited to older adults of Caucasian (European) origin. As a result, it is not possible to determine whether this simple dietary intervention would produce similar effects in other populations or age groups".
General comments
"This is an interesting study that may serve as a foundation for larger investigations. Overall, and bearing in mind the limitations of the study, the findings suggest that a simple intervention such as taking multivitamin supplements could potentially contribute to healthier ageing.
However, further research will be needed before firm conclusions can be drawn, and we must wait for the continuation of the project to determine whether these findings can be confirmed".