This data adds to the potential protective components of vitamin D, which experts should consider alongside potential risks and additional research.
Either condition of cell inactivity or death is thought to contribute to aging and age-related diseases.” The researchers found that vitamin D supplementation helped minimize telomere shortening in white blood cells, which could help slow down biological aging.
Also, taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements did not appear to impact the role of vitamin D on telomere length.
Future research can explore why vitamin D may have these effects on telomere length.
For example, it could be related to an enzyme called telomerase that helps to lengthen telomeres and how vitamin D may protect against DNA damage.
Chromosome ends have protective caps called telomeres, which are crucial for normal aging.
Vitamin D supplementation may help prevent age-related diseases and biological aging by reducing telomere shortening, which occurs as people age, according to one study.
Along with possible hazards and further research, experts should take into account the additional protective components of vitamin D that this data adds to.
An investigation into the effects of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements on telomere shortening—a normal aging process—was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study’s authors clarified that telomeres aid in protecting the ends of chromosomes. Telomere shortening may raise the chance of developing some illnesses and dying.
“When telomeres become too short, cells enter senescence (a non-dividing state) or apoptosis (programmed cell death),” said David Cutler, MD, a board-certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, who was not involved in the study, as reported by Medical News Today. Cell death or inactivity is considered to be a contributing factor to aging and age-related illnesses. “”.
Vitamin D supplementation reduced white blood cell telomere shortening, which may help delay biological aging, according to the researchers’ findings.
Data from the VITAL trial was used in this investigation. Adults in the United States who took supplements of vitamin D3, omega-3 fatty acids, or both for approximately five years made up the trial’s representative sample. Some participants got the supplements, while others got a placebo because the study was double-blind and placebo-controlled. Every participant was at least fifty years old, and every participant who was female was at least fifty-five.
This study focused on a group of people who went to the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center. Participants gave fasting blood samples and took part in in-person evaluations during baseline and follow-up visits.
Leukocytes, the body’s white blood cells, had their telomere length measured by researchers comparing supplement-treated and placebo-treated subjects.
More than 2,500 samples from more than 1,000 participants were analyzed by the researchers. Despite some missing data, they looked at telomere length at baseline and at the two- and four-year follow-up.
To account for different covariates, they used models in a statistical analysis. To find out how various factors, like diabetes and high blood pressure, affected the results, they also conducted an exploratory subgroup analysis.
Vitamin D vs. O-3 fatty acids.
The intervention and placebo groups had comparable baseline characteristics, with the exception of the omega-3 fatty acid supplement group’s higher body mass index. Additionally, the two groups’ missing data was comparable.
Telomere length seemed to benefit from vitamin D. Telomere length was only slightly shortened in those who took vitamin D at the ages of two and four. Conversely, at both time points, the placebo group experienced significant telomere shortening.
The length of telomeres did not seem to be significantly affected by omega-3 fatty acid supplementation.
According to the subgroup analysis, vitamin D had a significant impact on telomere length for participants who were not taking cholesterol medication but not for those who were. Additionally, telomere shortening was statistically significantly reduced in non-white participants by vitamin D.
Researchers found that telomere shortening was significantly reduced in non-obese participants, but there was no significant interaction with body mass index. Additionally, the effect of vitamin D on telomere length did not seem to be affected by taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements.
There are certain restrictions on this telomere length analysis in this study population. First, it might not be feasible to extrapolate the results to other groups because the majority of participants were white and all were at least fifty.
Because the study was not initially intended to examine the impact of supplements on leukocyte telomere length, researchers acknowledge that this was a post-hoc analysis of an already finished study. Those without leukocyte telomere length data were also not included in the analysis.
The results may have been impacted by unreported factors, and the study has additional limitations compared to the original research.
According to researchers, people should view the data as “hypothesis-generating,” exercise caution, and acknowledge the limited power of exploratory subgroup analysis results. “.”.
About 37% of cases were still unaccounted for after four years. Researchers admit that this diminished power may be the reason they did not discover that leukocyte telomere length was impacted by omega-3 fatty acid supplementation.
The possible causes of vitamin D’s effects on telomere length can be investigated in future studies. For instance, it might have something to do with the telomerase enzyme, which lengthens telomeres, and how vitamin D may shield DNA from harm.
Cutler also pointed out the study’s shortcomings.
The current study only examined telomeres in white blood cells, included a comparatively small sample size, and did not thoroughly examine the effects of these telomere alterations on health. Therefore, there aren’t many clinical implications that can be drawn from this study. “”.
