For this clinical trial, researchers recruited 61 participants aged 40 or older who didn’t have a heart disease diagnosis at the start of the study. Participants randomly received either NOVOS Core or a placebo, and were instructed to consume their treatment once a day for six months.

NOVOS Core includes 12 bioactive compounds:

• Calcium Alpha-Ketoglutarate
• Fisetin
• Ginger root extract
• Glucosamine sulfate
• Glycine
• Hyaluronic acid
• L-theanine
• Magnesium malate
• Lithium aspartate
• Pterostilbene
• Rhodiola rosea root extract
• Vitamin C

“Because vascular aging is multi-factorial, the formulation was designed to target several complementary pathways,” Prof. Christian Heiss, Dr. med. FESC FRCP FRSM, associate head of school (research and innovation) in the School of Medicine at the University of Surrey, Interventional NHS consultant at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, and lead author of this study, told Medical News Today.

“One group of ingredients is plausibly relevant to endothelial signalling and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and protection from oxidative stress — such as vitamin C and polyphenols, including fisetin and pterostilbene,” he explained.

“A second group relates to vascular tone and blood pressure regulation, including magnesium (with malate) and amino acids such as glycine, which can support metabolic and redox homeostasis,” Heiss continued. “A third bucket is mitochondrial and cellular energy metabolism, where intermediates such as alpha-ketoglutarate (as calcium alpha-ketoglutarate) and malate are central to pathways increasingly linked to vascular ageing biology.”

“A fourth bucket focuses on inflammation, metabolic signalling, and stress physiology — for example, ginger extract (gingerols) and Rhodiola rosea (rosavins/salidrosides) are commonly studied for anti-inflammatory and stress-response effects, and L-theanine is often discussed in relation to stress/autonomic tone, which can influence vascular reactivity,” he said.

“Finally, components such as hyaluronic acid and glucosamine sulfate relate to extracellular matrix and glycosaminoglycan biology, which intersects with arterial remodeling,” he added.

At the study’s conclusion, researchers found that participants taking NOVOS Core experienced a measurable improvement in the function of their endothelial cells — which line the inside of blood vessels — shortly after the first dose, and this improvement persisted for 6 months.

“The significance is twofold,” Heiss explained. “First, the early response suggests the intervention can influence vascular function quickly, consistent with effects on endothelial signalling/vasoreactivity. Second, the fact that benefit was still present at six months — measured ~24 hours after the last dose — suggests more than a transient ‘short-lived’ effect and is compatible with longer-term improvement in vascular health.”

Scientists also found participants taking the supplement experienced improved arterial flexibility — or pulse wave velocity (PWV) — compared to placebo at six months, as well as better systolic blood pressure.

“PWV is a widely used marker of arterial stiffness, a core feature of vascular aging, and systolic blood pressure is a major determinant of cardiovascular risk over time,” Heiss explained. “In our trial, after six months, the supplement arm showed a greater reduction in PWV versus control and a clinically meaningful lowering of systolic blood pressure, alongside the endothelial improvements.”

“Taken together, improvements across endothelial function, arterial stiffness (PWV), and systolic blood pressure point to a coherent pattern consistent with a favorable shift in vascular aging biology — while recognizing this was a modest-sized, single-center study and not powered for clinical events.”
— Prof. Christian Heiss, FESC FRCP FRSM

MNT spoke with Christopher Yi, MD, a board certified vascular surgeon at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, about this study, who commented that his first reaction to the research was that the results show a strong correlation with nutritional supplements and vascular aging.

“In particular, the magnitude of improvement in flow-mediated dilation stood out, because it is a well-established functional marker of endothelial health,” Yi said. “I was pleasantly surprised that the study showed both an acute improvement after the first dose and sustained improvement at six months. That kind of consistency is not common in supplement trials, especially in adults without established cardiovascular disease.”

At the same time, Yi said, his clinical instinct is to interpret the study’s findings cautiously.

“The study is relatively small, single-centered, and the supplement is multi-component, so it’s impossible to know which ingredients drove the effect or whether this would generalize to broader real-world populations. But overall, the findings are genuinely intriguing and worth taking seriously as hypothesis-generating clinical evidence.”
— Christopher Yi, MD

“It’s important for researchers to continue finding ways adults ages 40 and older can slow or improve vascular aging because this is the exact window when vascular decline accelerates but before irreversible cardiovascular disease becomes clinically obvious,” Yi continued.

“Vascular aging is one of the earliest drivers of hypertension, endothelial dysfunction, and arterial stiffening, which later translates into heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and cognitive decline. If interventions can preserve endothelial function and reduce stiffness early, the long-term public health impact could be enormous,” he added.