Vitamin D may slow down cells
Vitamin D supplements may help prevent the loss of telomeres, and the DNA that shrinks with aging, as a large study showed. But the health effects are not yet clear
A new study indicates that vitamin D supplements may slow cellular aging by protecting telomeres.
OLGA Pankova/Getty Images
A new study indicates that vitamin D supplements may slow cellular aging by preventing telomeres. The health effects of these results are not yet clear.
Vitamin D has been prescribed as a healing drug for a number of health conditions, from cardiovascular disease to bone loss. In 2020 large A random experience governed by supplements Instead, benefits were found only in some cases, especially autoimmune diseases and advanced cancer cases, says the author’s co-author Joan Manson, a professor of medicine at the Harvard University Medical College and a major investigator for this great experience, called vitamin D and Omega-3 (VITAL). The new study is a vitality data analysis. Its discovery can explain the preventive effect of vitamin D supplements on these diseases associated with specified aging, says Manson.
“If it is repeated in another random experience of vitamin D supplements, I think this can be translated into clinical effects of chronic diseases in aging,” she says. “We already see that vitamin D reduces inflammation; it reduces advanced cancers and cancerous deaths, as well as autoimmune diseases. This can provide a biological mechanism.”
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In the vital project, the researchers registered approximately 26,000 women between the ages of 55 years or older than men between 50 years or older, and they appointed randomly participants to pick up vitamin D supplements, fish oil supplements or a mixture of both the placebo. For the new study, it was published today in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Scientists looked at a sub -group of 1054 participants who lived near the Center for Clinical and Translation Sciences at Harvard University in Boston, so that their blood would be drawn three times over a period of four years so that researchers can measure telomeres.
Inside most cells in the human body, 46 chromosomes reside, where our DNA is accurately filled. Each time the cell is divided, these chromosomes collapse and copy, and copy the files again into the nuclei of the new cells. Telomarat is the frequent DNA sequences that cut the ends of chromosomes. They settle chromosomes during cell division, although they become shorter every time the cells are divided. When the telomeres become very short, the cells stop dividing and die. Over time, with more growing and more cells, the body eventually stops working. Telomeres is not an ideal watch for health – very long telomeres It can increase the risk of cancer By installing the mutant cells – they are often used as a vital sign of aging.
The researchers found that the participants in the fake groups and supplements had similar telomere lengths at the beginning of the study. But over the four years of follow -up, people who were appointed to take 2000 IU of vitamin D daily showed less than telomeres compared to people in the imaginary drug group. Fish oil had no significant effect.
“Vitamin D supplements are able to slow down the Telomere’s default, at least during a four -year period,” says the author of the first study, Hydeong Chu, a molecular genetic scientist at the University of Augusta.
The study found that the participants began an average of 8,700 pairs of the length of the DNA telometer, and the vitamin D supplements of about 140 pairs of the base over a period of four years.
The health effects of this number are not clear. Mary Armanius, a professor of oncology and director of the Telomere Center at Jones Hopkins University, who did not participate in the research: “Only at the extreme, the length of telomere is really concerned in terms of aging.” The size of the difference was seen in the experience of vitamin D is within the natural range of human change, which means that it may not be equivalent to aging or young people in any clinical meaning.
“Most of us will be within this normal rate,” Armanius says.
In addition, Armanios says, the study used a method called QPCR to assess the length of the telomere, and this method can be very sensitive to factors such as when the samples and time have been collected between assembly and testing. “The method of measuring the length of the telomere was compared to others and I found it the least clonedShe says.
A large study of people between the ages of 60 and over in the United Kingdom also found this as well Very high levels of vitamin D In the blood it was associated with shorter triummics, indicating that more is not always better. Manson says that vital study participants completed a moderate amount of vitamin D.
And Zhu adds that most of the new study participants were eggs, so the results should be repeated in a more diverse sample. Researchers are currently analyzing data from 1054 vital participants to understand other aspects of cellular aging, including DNA, a type of genetic expression regulation.
Anastasius Betas, a professor of medicine at the University of Tafs University, who has not participated in the study, says the results are interesting. Betas says that vitamin D supplements are now recommended by the Endocrine Endocrinology Association for people between the ages of 75 years or older, as well as for people with diabetes to prevent the appearance of type 2 diabetes. “These new results of vital study provides scientific support for these recommendations, while highlighting the potential mechanisms through which vitamin D may affect the health results in the long run, as well.” He says.
Manson says the results are leading researchers towards a better understanding of those who should highlight a daily supplement. “It should not be a global recommendation to examine the levels of vitamin D blood or to take an appendix,” she says. “But groups seem to the risk risks chosen may benefit.”
