Vitamin D can slow the aging of cells
Vitamin D supplements can help prevent loss of telomeres, DNA sequences that shrink with aging, according to a major study. But health effects are not yet clear
A new study suggests that vitamin D supplements could slow down cellular aging by protecting telomeres.
Olga Pankova / Getty images
Vitamin D supplements can slow down cellular aging by preventing loss of telomeres, DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that are shortened in old age, suggests a new study. The health effects of these results are not yet clear.
Vitamin D had been presented as a panacea for a number of health problems, from cardiovascular disease to bone loss. In 2020 a large Randeomized supplementation controlled trial Instead, the advantages have only found in some conditions, in particular autoimmune diseases and advanced cases of cancer, explains the co-author of the new study, Joann Manson, professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and principal researcher of this great test, called the vitamin D and Omega-3 test (Vital). The new study is an analysis of vital data. Its observation could explain the protective effect of vitamin D supplements on these specific diseases linked to aging, says Manson.
“If it is reproduced in another randomized trial of vitamin D supplements, I think that could result in clinical effects for chronic aging diseases,” she said. “We already note that vitamin D reduces inflammation; It reduces advanced cancers and cancer deaths, as well as autoimmune diseases. This could provide a biological mechanism. “
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In the vital project, the researchers have scored nearly 26,000 women aged 55 or over and men aged 50 or over, and they randomly assigned participants to take vitamin D supplements, fish oil supplements, a combination of two or a placebo. For the new study, published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Scientists examined a subset of 1,054 participants who lived sufficiently near the Harvard clinical and translational scientific center in Boston so that their blood is taken three times over four years so that researchers can measure their telomeres.
Inside the cores of most cells in the human body reside 46 chromosomes, where our DNA is carefully packed. Whenever a cell is divided, these chromosomes disentangle and copy, and the copies go up in the nuclei of the new cells. Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences that cap the ends of chromosomes. They stabilize chromosomes during cell division, although they are shorter each time the cells divide. When telomeres become very short, cells stop dividing and dying. Over time, while more and more of our cells die, the body ages and finally stops working. Telomeres are not a perfect clock – very long telomeres may increase the risk of cancer By stabilizing mutated cells, but they are often used as a biomarker for aging.
Participants in placebo groups and supplements had lengths of telomeres similar at the start of the study, the researchers revealed. But during the four years of follow -up, people responsible for taking 2,000 international vitamin D units per day showed less shortening of their telomeres compared to people in the placebo group. Fish oil had no significant effect.
“Vitamin D supplementation is able to slow down the process of shortening telomeres, at least during the period of four years,” said the first author of the Haidong Zhu study, a molecular geneticist at the Medical College of Georgia from Augusta University.
Participants started with an average of 8,700 pairs of DNA telomeres length bases, and the vitamin D supplementation has slowed down the loss of length of around 140 pairs of bases over four years, the study revealed.
The implications for the health of this number are not clear. “It is only in the extreme that the length of the telomeres is really important in terms of aging,” warns Mary Armanios, professor of oncology and director of the Telomere of Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in research. The extent of the difference observed in the vitamin D test is in the normal beach of human variation, which means that it may not equip aging or youth in the clinical sense.
“Most of us will be in this normal range, and there is a large stamp for the amount of length of the telomeres,” explains Armanios.
In addition, said Armanios, the study used a method called a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) to assess the length of the telomeres, and this method can be very sensitive to factors such as when the samples have been taken and what time has passed between collection and tests. “The methodology for measuring the length of the telomeres has been compared to others and found as the least reproducible“, She said.
A large study by people aged 60 and over in the United Kingdom also revealed that very high levels of vitamin D In the blood was associated with shorter telomeres, which suggests that the more better. Participants in the vital study were completed by a moderate quantity of vitamin D, known as Manson.
Most participants in the new study were white, adds Zhu, so the results must be reproduced in a more diverse sample. Researchers also analyze the data of the 1,054 vital participants to understand other facets of cellular aging, including DNA methylation, a type of gene expression regulation.
The results are intriguing, explains Anastassios Pittas, professor of medicine at the TUFTS University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. Vitamin D supplements are now recommended by endocrine society for people aged 75 and over, as well as for people of all ages with prediabetes to prevent the appearance of type 2 diabetes, says Pittas. “These new results of the Vital Study provide scientific support to these recommendations, highlighting the possible mechanisms by which vitamin D can influence long-term health results,” he said.
The results lead the researchers to better understand who should make a daily supplement burst, says Manson. “It should not be a universal recommendation to be detected for the blood levels of vitamin D or take an additional cost,” she said. “But it seems that certain high -risk groups can benefit from it.”
