Vitamin D—the sunshine vitamin—really can help combat ageing.
Even if you can’t get out into the sun too often, taking a vitamin D3 supplement every day for four years slowed biological ageing by three years.
The vitamin protects our telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that shorten as we get older. The shortening causes biological ageing and increases the risk of some cancers and autoimmune diseases such as arthritis.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham tracked the telomere health of 1,054 volunteers aged from 50, who were either given 2000 IUs of vitamin D3 every day for five years, or 1 g omega 3 fatty acid supplements, or a placebo.
The telomeres in white blood cells were measured every two years, but only the vitamin D supplements reduced telomere shortening.
The dose used in the test is equivalent to around 15 minutes of sunbathing on a summer’s day.
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