Omega-3 fatty acids and slow biological aging with vitamin D in the elderly

Many people want to delay or even stop the aging process. Previous clinical studies have shown that a reduced calorie intake can slow the aging process in humans. Taking vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acids has also shown promising results in the slowdown in organic aging in animals. However, it was not clear if these measures would also work in humans.
The therapies previously tested in the Do-Santé study led by Heike Bischoff-Ferrari are also associated with a slowdown in the aging process. These have shown that vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, as well as regular physical activity, reduce the risk of infections and falls and prevent cancer and premature fragility.
These results inspired us to measure the direct influence of these three therapies on the organic aging process in dirty health participants. “”
Bischoff-Ferrari, professor of geriatrics and geriatric medicine, University of Zurich
Measure the biological and chronological age
A scientific approach to making biological aging measurable is the use of epigenetic clocks. They record chemical modifications of the DNA molecule, known as methylation, and thus quantify the difference between biological and chronological aging. The Do-Health study has now studied how this molecular biological measurement method reacts for targeted treatment.
The team led by Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, in collaboration with Steve Horvath, senior researcher at Altos Labs Cambridge (United Kingdom), who has developed watches, studied the effect of omega-3 and / or vitamin D and / or a simple force training on biological the aging of 777 people over 70 years old. Eight different treatment combinations were tested during the three-year study: the subjects took 2,000 international units (IU) vitamin D and / or 1 gram of omega-3 (algae) fatty acids daily ) and / or carried out 30 minutes of force training at home three times a week.
Organic age has slowed down
When the researchers analyzed the blood samples, they found that taking omega-3 fatty acids slowed organic aging through several epigenetic clocks up to four months-regardless of sex, age or the Body mass index of subjects. The combination of omega-3, vitamin D and force training has proven to be even more effective, according to one of the four epigenetic clocks used.
“This result extends our previous results of the Do-Health study, in which these three combined factors have had the greatest impact on the reduction in the risk of cancer and the prevention of premature fragility over a period of three years, to slow down The biological aging process, “says Bischoff-Ferrari. Each of these measures works through different mechanisms that complement each other and, when combined, lead to an increased global effect, according to the author of the study.
Do-Health as a validation platform
At the same time, the research team draws attention to the limits of the study. “There is no general or generally accepted gold stallion to measure the biological age,” explains Bischoff-Ferrari. “However, we have analyzed the best epigenetic clocks currently validated, which reflect the state of the art. To advance the clinical application of biological clocks, Bischoff-Ferrari, as well as the main international researchers of the Global CORPEY Extension Consortium, plans to use health studies and other global intervention studies as a platform of Validation for new aging biomarkers.
Researchers also point out that the sample consists exclusively of Swiss participants and therefore does not represent the world population of the elderly aged 70 and over. In a next step, they plan to extend their analyzes to all participants in health health – including people from Germany, France, Austria and Portugal – to explain a greater diversity of genetics and of lifestyles.