Researchers from the DO-HEALTH trial have uncovered promising findings regarding the impact of omega-3 supplementation, vitamin D intake, and regular exercise on biological aging. Tracking over 700 older adults, this study suggests that these combined strategies can slow biological aging by several months over a three-year period. The regimen, consisting of 1 gram of algae-based omega-3 fatty acids, 2,000 international units of vitamin D per day, and 30 minutes of exercise three times a week, has shown measurable benefits at the molecular level.
The study's findings indicate that this combination not only has the potential to rejuvenate biological age by 3-4 months but also provides a strong signal for improving population health. Researchers highlighted that while the effects might seem small, they are significant enough to warrant attention due to their potential long-term benefits on public health.
“Our findings provide a strong signal that omega-3 slows biological aging in humans, and that the combination vitamin D and exercise may make this effect even stronger. While the effects documented (3-4 months rejuvenation of biological age) appear small, if sustained, may have relevant effects on population health.” – Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, MD, MPH, DrPH
The PhenoAge biological clock was used to measure the impact on participants, showing a reduction in biological aging by approximately 2.9 to 3.8 months over the course of three years. This suggests that such simple and accessible interventions could extend health span in older adults.
Moreover, the study's findings underscore the affordability and safety of these strategies, as evidenced in the DO-HEALTH trial over a three-year follow-up. These interventions are not only accessible but also feasible public health solutions.
“This supports these three public health strategies as a combined solution at the public health level to extend health span in older adults. Further, these strategies are affordable and safe as shown in DO-HEALTH over a 3-year follow-up,” – Horvath
The research team plans to use DO-HEALTH as a platform for further exploration into novel measures of biological aging. They aim to advance the concept of combining lifestyle changes that operate through different mechanistic pathways to enhance their collective impact.
“As a next step,” he told us, “we plan to use DO-HEALTH as a validation platform for novel measures of biological aging and just built the global health span extension consortium to advance the concept of combining feasible life-style changes that play on different mechanistic pathways of biological aging and become powerful in combination.” – Horvath
Clifford Segil, DO, expressed interest in seeing further breakdowns of the study into specific components of vitamin D and omega-3 supplementation and their individual effects on biological age. He emphasized the importance of exploring how these elements work separately and together for more comprehensive insights.
“I enjoyed seeing these researchers try to determine if Vitamin D with omega-3 improved biological age with exercise. I would have liked to see the study broken into 3 parts which would have been biological age affects from Vitamin D and omega 3 supplementation. A second part confirming how much exercise decreased biological age with new next generation tests. And then a third part to confirm that both together worked better than alone.” – Clifford Segil, DO
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