Anti-aging supplements: 20 products reviewed, what is proven and what is not

Daniel Platteau

In short: no supplement has been shown to extend life or slow aging in healthy people. A few have proven effects in specific situations: correcting a deficiency, helping muscles when you do strength training. Many others rest on animal studies, small trials or biological markers. And some, at high doses, did more harm than good in large trials.

How we ranked these 20 supplements

"Anti-aging" covers two very different things. On one side, concrete effects: fewer fractures, more muscle strength, less disease, a longer life. On the other, markers: a blood level that rises, a "biological clock" that goes back a few months. An improved marker does not guarantee that you will live better or longer.

So we ranked each supplement by the best available human evidence:

• Randomised controlled trial: a group taking the product is compared, at random, with a placebo group. This is the strongest evidence.
• Observational study: people who take it are seen to do better, without being able to tell whether it is the product or their lifestyle.
• Animal or cell study: useful to understand a mechanism, never enough to advise a human.

This page replaces our former ranking of the "20 best anti-aging supplements": several of its claims did not survive a second look at the studies.

Useful in specific situations

1. Vitamin D. Essential for bones, and in Belgium the skin makes almost none in winter. But the large VITAL trial (25,871 participants, 2,000 IU a day for more than five years) reduced neither cancers nor cardiovascular events in these healthy adults, most of whom were not deficient. An analysis of the same trial found 22 % fewer autoimmune diseases, an interesting but isolated signal. Its main use is to correct a deficiency. Everything is explained in our article Vitamin D in winter.

2. Creatine monohydrate. One of the best-studied supplements. Combined with resistance training, it helps people over 50 gain more muscle and strength: on average 1.4 kg more lean mass than placebo, in a meta-analysis of 22 trials. Without training, the benefit is much less clear. See our article on creatine (in French).

3. Omega-3 (EPA and DHA). In VITAL, 1 g a day did not reduce overall cardiovascular events. Heart attacks were fewer, but this was a secondary outcome that needs confirmation. In the Swiss DO-HEALTH trial (777 people over 70, three years), omega-3 slowed "epigenetic clocks" by a few months: a marker, not a proven clinical benefit. The flip side: a meta-analysis of seven large trials links omega-3 supplements to a higher risk of atrial fibrillation, more marked above 1 g a day.

4. Multivitamin. Three trials of the American COSMOS study (about 5,000 older people) suggest that a daily multivitamin slightly slows cognitive decline, an effect the authors estimate as equivalent to about two years less cognitive aging. It is a modest effect, obtained with a common product supplied by a manufacturer, and still needs confirming in other populations.

5. Vitamin B12. With age, the stomach absorbs vitamin B12 from food less well, and some medicines make this worse. A deficiency causes fatigue and damages nerves and memory. A blood test, sometimes completed by other tests, shows whether a supplement is needed. See our article on vitamin B12 (in French).

Promising, but not proven

6. Hydrolysed collagen. Many trials report more elastic, better-hydrated skin. But a meta-analysis of 23 trials published in 2025 in The American Journal of Medicine found that the effect disappeared in trials not funded by industry and in those of higher quality. Manufacturers dispute this analysis. See our article on hydrolysed collagen (in French).

7. Coenzyme Q10 and selenium. A Swedish trial (KiSel-10) in older people found fewer cardiovascular deaths with this pair. But the Swedish participants had a low selenium intake: nothing shows the effect would hold in people who are not lacking it.

8. Vitamin K2. It is involved in how bones and blood vessels use calcium. The few trials give mixed results on bone density and arterial stiffness. See our article on vitamin K2.

9. Magnesium. Insufficient intake is common and associated, in observational studies, with more inflammation. Supplementing makes sense in case of deficiency; no "anti-aging" effect has been shown beyond that.

10. Curcumin. Trials show a modest effect on osteoarthritis pain and some inflammation markers. It is very poorly absorbed on its own, and cases of liver injury have been reported with turmeric supplements, especially "enhanced absorption" formulas.

11. Glycine and N-acetylcysteine ("GlyNAC"). Small trials in older people show improvements in several markers (oxidative stress, glutathione). The numbers are too small to conclude.

12. Pasteurised Akkermansia muciniphila. A gut bacterium whose pasteurised form improved a few metabolic markers in a small pilot trial. Nothing more for now.

13. Astaxanthin. This antioxidant pigment has been tested in small trials on skin and eye fatigue, often funded by producers.

More promise than proof

14. NMN and nicotinamide riboside (NR). These NAD+ precursors, an essential molecule whose level falls with age, do raise NAD+ in the blood. But no trial has shown a lasting clinical benefit. On the regulatory side: in the United States, the FDA recognised in September 2025 that NMN could again be sold as a supplement; in the European Union, NR is authorised, while NMN received a favourable EFSA safety opinion in May 2026 (up to 300 mg a day) but is still awaiting authorisation.

15. Resveratrol. The star of yeast and mouse studies. In humans, results are weak and contradictory.

16. Quercetin and fisetin. Studied as "senolytics", able to remove senescent cells. The evidence comes mostly from animals; human trials are small and ongoing. See our article on cellular senescence.

17. Spermidine. An observational study links a spermidine-rich diet with lower mortality. But the randomised smartAge trial (100 older people, one year) found no effect on memory.

18. Concentrated green tea (EGCG). Drinking tea is not a problem. However, EFSA identified a liver risk with concentrated supplements providing about 800 mg of EGCG a day or more.

19. High-dose antioxidants (vitamin E, beta-carotene). The idea seemed logical: neutralise free radicals to age more slowly. Large trials said the opposite. Beta-carotene increased lung cancer in smokers (ATBC trial), and vitamin E increased prostate cancer by 17 % (SELECT trial).

20. Selenium "for prevention". Useful in case of deficiency, as in KiSel-10. But in SELECT it did not reduce cancers, and the margin between a useful and a toxic dose is narrow.

What really works

The best-proven levers against the effects of age do not come in capsules: physical activity, especially strength training, a varied diet with enough protein, sleep, not smoking, social ties. A supplement can supplement, in the literal sense: fill a gap or support an effort. It replaces nothing.

Essential precautions

• Interactions: anticoagulants and treatments for diabetes, blood pressure or the thyroid can interact with supplements. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
• Overdose: vitamin D, vitamin A, selenium, zinc and green tea extracts have toxicity thresholds. Watch out for combining several products.
• Quality: the actual composition varies from brand to brand. Prefer products tested by an independent laboratory.
• Markers: be wary of promises in "years of life" or "biological age": they almost always rest on markers, not health outcomes.

Test yourself

Disclaimer

This article is an information summary. It does not replace the advice of a doctor or pharmacist, who will take your health and treatments into account.

Sources

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