Omega-3s Slow Aging
Recent research on heart disease patients just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that those who have the highest blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids seem to age more slowly on a cellular level than those with the lowest blood levels.
Earlier work has shown that patients with heart disease who have a high intake of omega-3s have higher survival rates, and this new study sought to explain why this might be.
"We've shown an entirely new effect of omega-3 fatty acids, which may be to slow down the biological aging process in patients with coronary heart disease," explains lead author Ramin Farzaneh-Far, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco.
Farzaneh-Far and the team looked at a marker of biological age - shortening of telomeres, the structures at the end of a chromosome that are involved with its replication and stability.
Experts believe that as telomeres shorten, the eventual result is the death of the cell. In earlier work by the team, the telomere length of heart disease patients was a powerful predictor of death and bad outcomes. The shorter the telomeres, the greater risk of death.
For the study, the researchers evaluated 608 outpatients in California who had stable heart disease and had been recruited from the Heart and Soul Study.
At the start of the study and at the five-year point, blood samples were taken and evaluated for omega-3 fatty acid levels. DNA from the blood allowed researchers to look at the length of the telomere of the leukocyte, a type of blood cell. The subjects were followed up until January 2009.
"Patients with the lowest blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids exhibited a rate of telomere shortening 2.6 times faster than patients with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids," Farzaneh-Far tells online medical resource WebMD. And while no one has enough information to convert telomere length to years of aging, experts suspect omega-3 might be one of many influences on the length of telomeres - others being inflammation, obesity, oxidative stress and lack of activity.
Would lots of omega-3s in the blood help a patient with heart disease? Experts can't say for sure.
There was no association between omega-3 fatty acid levels and telomere length back in September 2000 and December 2002 when the study began. But by the end of the follow up period the team saw the higher the blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the subjects, the slower the rate of telomere shortening.
Of course this is exciting news, demonstrating how sources of omega-3s work at a cellular level. One day your doctor might even be able to conduct a test that examines your telomere length with an eye to predicting your risk of heart disease.
Whether you're a heart disease patient or not, this research might have you wondering what to do about omega-3s?
The American heart Association recommends a gram a day of omega-3 fatty acid for those who do have heart disease. Look for natural dietary sources like oily fish (salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna) or supplements. like
The Secrets of Eden's Enteric Coated Omega 3s