Vitamin D could help slow down the ageing of cells and tissues, according to British researchers.
A study of 2,160 women aged between 18 and 79 by researchers of King's College London published Thursday found those with higher vitamin D levels showed fewer ageing-related changes in their DNA.
The shortening of these strands of DNA called telomeres is one way of examining the ageing process at a cellular level.
The researchers looked at white blood cells, which tend to experience faster rates of turnover and faster shortening of telomeres, when the body's tissues are suffering more inflammation, and took a snapshot measurement of the levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream, comparing this to the length of the telomeres in their white blood cells.
They found that after adjusting the results for the age of the volunteer, women with higher levels of vitamin D were more likely to have longer telomeres in these cells, and vice versa. A lack of vitamin D has already been linked to multiple sclerosis and heumatoid arthritis.
The genetic material inside every cell has an inbuilt "clock," which counts down every time the cell reproduces itself.
"These results are exciting because they demonstrate for the first time that people who have higher levels of vitamin D may age more slowly than people with lower levels of vitamin D. This could help to explain how vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing-related diseases, such as heart disease and cancer," Brent Richards, who led the study, was quoted as saying.
The researchers, however, conceded that while this suggested a link between vitamin D levels and telomere length, it did not provide unequivocal evidence that vitamin D was responsible for this effect, rather than some other factor unaccounted for in the research.
Source: Xinhua
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