Supplement with 2000 IU vitamin D3 slows down aging
If you want to slow the rate of your aging with supplements, definitely include vitamin D in your regimen. Supplementing with 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day slows the rate at which you age, according to a molecular epidemiological study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in May 2025.
Study
American researchers published a study in which they followed 1031 people over the age of 50 for 4 years. Some of the study participants took 2000 IU of vitamin D3 and a placebo daily, another group took a supplement with one gram of omega-3 fatty acids and a placebo daily, yet another group took both vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids and a fourth group took 2 placebo supplements daily.
During the four-year period, the researchers measured the length of the telomeres in the DNA of the cells of the study participants. The more often cells divide, the shorter those telomeres are. As you get older, the length of the telomeres becomes shorter.
The healthier you live, the more economically you use your cells - and the less often those cells need to divide. The slower the decrease in the length of your telomeres, the greater the chance that you can grow old healthily.
Results
There was a tendency for fish oil supplementation to reduce the decrease in telomere length, but the difference with the study participants who had not received omega-3 fatty acids was not statistically significant. This is shown in the first figure below.
According to the statistical calculations, vitamin D supplementation did put the brakes on the decrease in telomere length. This is made clear in the second figure below.
Over a 4 year period, vitamin supplementation reduced the loss of telomere length by 140 base pairs. To give you an idea, each cell division takes 50-200 base pairs off the length of your telomeres. A normal human cell can divide 40-60 times.
Conclusion
"Our findings suggest that targeted vitamin D supplementation may be a promising strategy to counter a biological aging process, although further research is warranted," says Haidong Zhu of Augusta University, the first author of the study, in a press release. [sciencedaily.com May 21, 2025.]
Source:
Am J Clin Nutr. 2025 May 21:S0002-9165(25)00255-2.
More:
Combination of exercise with high vitamin D levels slows down aging 29.05.2024
High vitamin D levels help keep heart patients alive 01.11.2021
Fit centenarians have high vitamin D levels 21.11.2016
Meta-study: a high vitamin D level helps you live longer 24.01.2015
Archives:
Longevity
Vitamin D
Vitamins
|