Scientists have found that a simple combination of essential vitamins and regular exercise can help maintain a youthful appearance. As many seek anti-aging solutions without the high costs, experts highlight a natural approach to achieving this goal.
With age, our bodies undergo physiological changes, including reduced skin elasticity, lower energy levels, and increased susceptibility to illness. Clinical research indicates that cutting calorie intake can slow the aging process in humans. Additionally, the fatty acids in Vitamin D and Omega-3 have shown promising effects in delaying biological aging in animals, prompting studies to determine if similar benefits apply to humans.
Researchers from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, aimed to look into their effectiveness in humans when paired with exercise, another factor which has been strongly associated with slowing down the ageing process. Researcher, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, conducted a second study in the DO-HEALTH research.
They found that a combination of Vitamin D, Omega-3 fatty acids, and regular exercise helps lower the risk of infections and falls. Additionally, it may help prevent cancer and premature frailty, according to lavanguardia.com.
In this study, researchers developed a scientific method to evaluate biological aging using epigenetic clocks. These clocks track chemical modifications in DNA, known as methylation, to determine the difference between biological and chronological aging. The DO-HEALTH study was the first to assess how responsive this molecular measurement technique is to a targeted treatment.
The team led by Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, in collaboration with Steve Horvath, principal investigator at Altos Labs Cambridge, investigated the effect of Omega-3s and Vitamin D and simple strength training on biological ageing in 777 people over 70 years old. During the three year study, eight different treatment combinations were tested, both alone and in combination.
Participants consumed 2,000 international units (IU) of Vitamin D and/or 1 gram of Omega-3 fatty acids (sourced from algae) daily, along with 30 minutes of strength training at home three times per week.
Blood sample analysis showed that Omega-3 fatty acid intake slowed biological aging by up to a whopping four months across multiple epigenetic clocks, regardless of age, gender, or body mass index. Furthermore, the combination of Omega-3s, Vitamin D, and strength training proved even more effective, as demonstrated by one of the four epigenetic clocks used in the study.
“This result extends our previous findings from the DO-HEALTH study where these three combined factors had the greatest impact on reducing cancer risk and preventing premature frailty over a three-year period, as well as slowing down the biological ageing process,” states Bischoff-Ferrari.
The study itself states: “In summary, our trial indicates a small protective effect of omega-3 treatment on slowing biological aging over three years across several clocks, with an additive protective effect of omega-3, vitamin D and exercise based on PhenoAge.”
