Vitamin D Shaves Years Off Your Biological Age
- Editor OGN Daily
- 11 hours ago
- 2 min read
The 'sunshine vitamin' has been discovered to have yet another benefit - it helps protect your telomeres.
Taking a vitamin D supplement - or getting enough naturally - can knock three years off your biological age, according to the results of a large, long-term study. This may not seem like a lot, over a lifetime, but it's a significant amount as you become more and more susceptible to age-related diseases, says NewAtlas.
Co-led by researchers at Mass General Brigham and the Medical College of Georgia, the study enrolled just over 25,000 US males aged 50 years and older, and females aged 55 years and older to study a range of health biomarkers. They found that participants who had been receiving vitamin D3 (2,000 IU/day) had significantly longer telomeres within their white blood cells than those receiving a placebo.
Telomeres are the protective "caps" on the ends of chromosomes, essentially shielding the important DNA held within from degrading and short telomeres have been linked to a suite of age-related conditions and diseases.
The study is the first to show, with robust trial design over a long period, that vitamin D does indeed appear to offer great benefit in shielding the breakdown of these chromosome caps.
The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Vitamin D: Everything You Need to Know. Here are a handful of articles extolling the benefits of Vitamin D - many of which may surprise you.
Today's Articles
Ahead of Its Time: 1922 Romanian clown-shoe car pioneered aerodynamics and rivals even the most slippery cars today.
Simple Health Tips: The New York Times asked experts: What is the one health tip you learned in your work that you swear by?