- A new study suggests that vitamin D supplementation can help preserve the lengths of protective ceilings at the ends of chromosomes called telomeres.
- Researchers say that maintaining the duration of telomeres can help slow certain aspects of organic aging.
- The length of the telomeres is an important element of healthy aging, but the role that vitamin D can play is not yet certain.
A new study reports that vitamin D supplementation can help slow some of the mechanisms of organic aging.
This shortening is a natural element of aging, but it has been linked to certain age -related diseases. Among these diseases are bladder cancer, lungs, kidneys and gastrointestinal systems.
“Our results suggest that targeted vitamin D supplementation can be a promising strategy to counter a biological aging process, although additional research is justified,” said Haidong Zhu, MD, PHD, the first author of the study and a molecular geneticist at Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, in a press release.
Experts agree that the new research is interesting, but they note that it has its limits.
“The length of the telomeres has been protected by vitamin D supplementation, but it is not clear how it results in real biological aging,” said MD, MD, MD, MD, MD, MD, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University in California. Tan was not involved in the study.
“This study implied that a relatively small number of people, only looked at telomeres in white blood cells and did not widely look at the impact on the health of these telomeres changes,” added David Cutler, MD, a family medical medicine at the Center de santé de Providence Saint John in Santa Monica, California. “Thus, the clinical implications that can be derived from this study are quite limited.” Cutler was also not involved in the study.
The researchers based their results on the results of the vital random controlled clinical trial, which was supervised by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
For their study, the researchers followed 1,054 participants to see if vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids can reduce the shortening of telomeres and slow organic aging.
The study group included women aged 55 and over and men aged 50 and over. The researchers followed the participants for five years, measuring the length of the telomeres in the white blood cells at the start, the second year and the fourth year.
The researchers reported that omega-3 fatty acids had no significant effect on the length of the telomeres.
However, they said that vitamin D3 supplements considerably reduced the shortening of telomeres and prevented the equivalent of almost three years of aging in people who have taken vitamin D compared to people who received a placebo.
Experts say that such a slowdown in the aging process has significant advantages.
“The slowdown in biological aging can improve life expectancy and quality of life, and this could reduce the risk of various pathological states,” said Tan.
Vitamin D health benefits have been praised in recent years.
Previous research has also indicated that a sufficient amount of vitamin D can help improve heart health.
It is estimated that
THE
Vitamin D is known as “sun vitamin” because the best source for it is sunlight. Your body makes food vitamin D3 cholesterol in the skin when exposed to UV rays of the sun.
The best time to get the most out of this beneficial sun is noon, when the sun is at its peak. However, experts say that too much sun can cause sunburns, eyes damage, heat stroke and skin cancer.
There are not many foods that are sufficient sources of vitamin D, but there are some. They are:
In addition, you can drink milk enriched with vitamin D. Certain types of fungi as well as cheese can also be healthy sources for vitamin D.
Tan has said that the amount of vitamin D that a person needs depends on the individual.
“The ideal quantity of supplementation depends on its level of reference vitamin D,” she explained. “Various factors can have an impact on vitamin D levels and metabolism, including sun exposure, the period of the year, geographic location, complexion, kidney function, among other factors.”
“Although sun exposure can increase vitamin D levels, excessive UV exposure has other health risks,” noted Tan. “Vitamin D can be obtained to a certain extent from the diet, but people often need additional additional vitamins. To find out exactly how much vitamin D supplementation you need, you should chat with your health care provider. ”
Cutler said that people with healthy vitamin D probably don’t need supplementation.
“There have been many studies involving tens of thousands of people seeking to document vitamin D in healthy adults with normal vitamin D levels, and no advantage has been found,” Cutler told Healthline.
“There has been no documentation on the reduction of cancer rates, fewer cardiovascular diseases, increased longevity, protection against infections or improved results of the covid.”
“The best sustained strategies to preserve the length of the telomeres are exercise, diet, stress management, adequate sleep and avoidance of harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol,” he added. “These lifestyle changes are not content to preserve telomeres – they also largely support healthy aging.”
