The median age was 51.0 years, and 51.5% were female. Higher total vitamin intake was significantly associated with reduced biological aging (KDM-acceleration: β = −1.281; PhenoAge-acceleration: β = −1.379; HD: β = −0.046). Dose-response relationships were linear (all P nonlinear > 0.05). Stratified analyses revealed stronger associations in males and individuals with comorbidity. Vitamin C was the primary protective component, followed by vitamin B2.
Higher intake of dietary vitamin mixture was associated with slower biological aging, with vitamin C as the key protective driver. These findings support recommending vitamin-rich diets to promote healthy aging.
An interesting finding was the negative weights observed for vitamins B12 and D, suggesting their associations with biological aging were in the opposite direction to the overall protective effect of the mixture. This observation could be explained by several mechanisms. First, antagonistic interactions within the vitamin mixture, such as competition for shared absorption transporters or metabolic pathways, might attenuate the net protective effect [30]. Second, and perhaps more likely, these negative weights may indicate nonlinear dose-response relationships [31]. This interpretation is supported by our RCS analysis, which suggested that higher intake of vitamin D might be associated with an increase in KDM-acceleration and PhenoAge-acceleration.