ArticleBiological trace element research2026
Biological Aging Mediates the Associations Between Multiple Serum Micronutrients and All-Cause Mortality Among U.S. Adults.
Article in Biological trace element research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSerum micronutrients are highly intercorrelated in general populations and may affect longevity via biological aging-related pathways. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether biological aging mediates the associations of serum micronutrient mixtures with all-cause mortality.
methodsThis prospective cohort analysis included adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2006 and 2017-2018, with mortality follow-up until December 31, 2019. Six serum micronutrients were assessed: vitamin C, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), α-tocopherol, β-carotene, lycopene, and folate. Biological aging was estimated based on nine clinical biomarkers: albumin, creatinine, glucose, C-reactive protein, lymphocyte percentage, mean cell volume, red cell distribution width, alkaline phosphatase, and white blood cell count. PhenoAgeAccel was defined as phenotypic age minus chronological age. Cox proportional hazards regression and restricted cubic splines (RCS) were applied to assess the associations of individual serum micronutrients with all-cause mortality. Quantile g-computation (QGC) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to explore the joint effects of micronutrient mixtures on mortality. Mediation analysis was further conducted to quantify the mediating role of PhenoAgeAccel.
resultsA total of 6,387 participants were included, with a median follow-up of 14.08 years and 932 all-cause deaths recorded. In fully adjusted Cox models, higher levels of β-carotene, lycopene, vitamin C, and 25(OH)D were significantly associated with reduced mortality risk. Compared with the lowest tertile (tertile 1), the HRs (95% CIs) for all-cause mortality were 0.80 (95% CI: 0.64-1.00, P = 0.048) for tertile 2 and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.60-0.90, P = 0.003) for tertile 3 of β-carotene. Both QGC and BKMR analyses revealed a protective joint effect of the micronutrients mixture on all-cause mortality (HR = 0.723, 95% CI: 0.646-0.809), with lycopene contributing the largest negative weight (0.455). PhenoAgeAccel significantly mediated the associations of β-carotene, lycopene, vitamin C, and 25(OH)D with all-cause mortality, with mediating proportions of 35.65%, 15.66%, 27.30%, and 6.87%, respectively.
conclusionHigher serum micronutrient concentrations were inversely associated with all-cause mortality, and these associations were partially mediated by decelerated biological aging. Within the micronutrient mixture, lycopene exhibited the greatest relative contribution to the overall protective effect.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42393351What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.