Multivitamin for Longevity

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that regular multivitamin use resulted in longer telomeres in women. What are telomeres? Telomeres are a repeating nucleotide sequence at the end of our chromosomes that protects them from degradation. The length of telomeres decreases with every cell division and if too short, can lead to the loss of cellular function and apoptosis (programmed cell death). Evidence suggests that inflammation and oxidative stress can contribute to shorter telomeres. This study found that compared to nonusers, regular multivitamin use was associated with 5.1% longer telomeres on average. This difference corresponds to approximately 9.8 years of age-related telomere loss. The study also found that these results were greatest in users who took a combination multivitamin and antioxidant.

The article can be found at The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Xu, Q., et al. Multivitamin use and telomere length in women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 89: 1-7, 2009.