New Study Suggests Vitamin D Can Help With Aging

For many people, part of the process of growing older also involves figuring out ways to grow older better — in other words, to stay healthier physically and cognitively for as long as possible. There’s been a growing body of research directed at these questions, and the latest manifestation comes via a paper published this week in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This paper offers some enticing findings regarding the role that Vitamin D can play in human longevity. The researchers explored the effects of vitamin D3 and Omega-3 fatty acids on a group of men and women over the ages of 50 and 55, respectively. Their conclusion? After analyzing the results of the study over five years, they found that “vitamin D3 daily supplementation with or without n-3 FAs might have a role in counteracting telomere erosion or cell senescence.”

As Caren Chesler reported in The Washington Post, there’s a potentially large caveat there: most Americans are not lacking in vitamin D. Chesler noted that this study goes farther than its predecessors in exploring the links between vitamin D intake and telomere length — something that can play a role in healthy aging.

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One of the study’s authors, JoAnn Manson of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explained what the study’s findings can and cannot tell us. “[T]argeted supplementation for people who have higher levels of inflammation or a higher risk of chronic diseases clearly related to inflammation, those high-risk groups may benefit from targeted vitamin D supplementation,” Manson told the Post.

There’s still plenty more work to do from here — and the effects of telomeres on aging are something else that scientists are working on understanding better. But this should help future researchers gain an even better understanding of these underlying issues.