Vitamin D Supplements May Slow Process Linked to Aging, New Study Says

Vitamin D and D3 can be obtained through sunlight or a number of foods, along with supplements.

Vitamins and supplements at a store in San Francisco, in an undated file photo. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A study published on May 23 found that people with higher vitamin D intake may be slowing a process linked to aging.

In a paper released by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on May 22, Mass General Brigham and the Medical College of Georgia researchers looked at results from a randomized controlled trial known as VITAL showing that taking vitamin D3 supplements can help support telomeres, which are the protective ends on chromosomes.

“VITAL is the first large-scale and long-term randomized trial to show that vitamin D supplements protect telomeres and preserve telomere length,” co-author JoAnn Manson said in a statement issued by Mass General Brigham. “This is of particular interest because VITAL had also shown benefits of vitamin D in reducing inflammation and lowering risks of selected chronic diseases of aging, such as advanced cancer and autoimmune disease.”

VITAL, they said, is a randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind trial of vitamin D3 and omega-3 supplementation involving U.S. females aged 55 and older and males aged 50 and older. Participants took 2,000 IU, or about 50 micrograms, of vitamin D3 per day and about 1 gram of omega-3 per day.

In their research, they found that taking vitamin D3 supplements significantly reduced the shortening of telomeres over a four-year period, as compared with taking a placebo, and was able to prevent “the equivalent of nearly three years of aging,” the statement said.

The researchers said that while several smaller-scale studies have suggested that vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acid supplements could help maintain telomeres, the results haven’t been consistent.

The researchers also noted that taking omega-3 supplements did not have a significant effect on the length of telomeres. Omega-3 is also commonly found in fish oil supplements and is associated with several benefits to the heart, brain, and joints.

“Our findings suggest that targeted vitamin D supplementation may be a promising strategy to counter a biological aging process, although further research is warranted,” Haidong Zhu, an author of the study who works at Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia, said in a statement.

Separate research has suggested that shorter telomeres are associated with aging and a higher chance of developing certain diseases. According to a paper published by the National Institutes of Health, telomere length can potentially serve as a “biological clock” to determine how long a cell lives or how long an organism will live.

Telomeres, which are made of sequences of DNA, prevent the ends of chromosomes from merging with other chromosomes or deteriorating over time, the researchers stated.

Vitamin D can be obtained through sunlight or foods such as fatty fish, egg yolks, cheeses, orange juice, fortified cereals, and certain types of mushrooms.

According to research published by the Cleveland Clinic, supplementation of vitamin D is common, with about one-fifth of the U.S. population taking a vitamin D supplement daily.