Omega-3 fatty acids from fish or nuts are considered healthy because they regulate our blood lipid levels and prevent numerous diseases. In addition, they apparently also slow down the aging process of our body, as a clinical study now suggests. Accordingly, people switch more slowly when they eat a gram of these unsaturated fatty acids every day. Anyone who consumes additional vitamin D and moves regularly can increase this rejuvenation effect.
Unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids are included in fish and nuts and are indispensable for our body. For example, it needs them for cell membranes and the control of blood lipids and blood clotting. However, they also have an anti -inflammatory effect and are beneficial for vascular health. Animal experiments and pilot studies also suggest that vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids can also brake aging and thus have a “rejuvenation effect”. But can the knowledge be transferred to humans? And what proportion do these nutrients have in the age brake?
Fatty acids let the biological clock tick more slowly
In order to find out, researchers around Heike Bischoff-Ferrari from the University of Zurich carried out a clinical study with 777 participants from Switzerland. The test subjects were at least 70 years old and mostly healthy. They took a placebo, a vitamin D preparation with 2000 units or a fatty acid preparation with a gram of omega-3 or completed a 30-minute movement program three times a week. Three of the eight participants received only one of these measures, the other combinations of two or three of the measures. The researchers removed blood samples from, during and after the period of study and determined from this by means of epigenetic biomarkers how the methylation patterns of the DNA of the subjects changed. These chemical attachments on the DNA regulate which genes are active, and thus also determine with our health and our biological age.
Bischoff-Ferrari and her colleagues found so that omega-3 fatty acids actually slow aging. Accordingly, the test subjects “tick” slower three of the four epigenetic “watches” examined. After the three years of study, they went by three to four months after the placebo control group. This effect occurred independently of gender, age and BMI of the test subjects. “A vitamin D supplement and movement (Shep), on the other hand, were not associated with changes in the watches,” reports the team. These individual measures therefore had no influence on aging. However, the analyzes also showed that the rejuvenation effect was even more pronounced among the study participants, who also carried out vitamin D in addition to omega-3 vitamin D and/or movement training. One of the four epigenetic watches examined ran even slower than through Omega-3 alone.
Rejuvenation effect prevents cancer
In combination, these three factors-omega-3, vitamin D and movement-not only slow aging, but also reduce the risk of cancer, as previous studies have already shown. “Therefore, the positive results (for the analyzed epigenetic watches) support the hypothesis that the slowdown of biological aging can contribute to the prevention of chronic diseases,” the team writes. It also concludes from the findings that the respective health effects of the individual lifestyle factors not only add up, but also reinforce each other. Anyone who consumes both omega-3 and vitamin D through their food and also moves regularly can therefore achieve a greater effect for their age and health than through the individual factors.
Bischoff-Ferrari and her colleagues therefore suspect that the underlying mechanisms are related. However, it is still unclear and is to be further researched which organs and metabolic processes the fatty acids, vitamins and movement slow down the epigenetic watches. It would also have to be examined whether the knowledge can be transferred to people from other countries. Because the team emphasizes that the Swiss participants are not representative of all people worldwide over the age of 70.
Source: Heike Bischoff-Ferrari (University of Zurich) et al.; Nature aging, DOI: 10.1038/S43587-024-00793-Y