Omega-3 Supplements May Slow A Biological Effect Of Aging Says OSU Study

Credit: OSU
 
The long chains – or bigger molecules – that make up EPA and DHA fatty acids are believed to be the secret to their effectiveness, Belury said.

Both groups of participants who took omega-3 supplements showed, on average, lengthening of telomeres compared to overall telomere effects in the placebo group, but the relationship could have been attributed to chance. However, when the researchers analyzed the participants’ omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in relationship to telomere lengthening, a lower ratio was clearly associated with lengthened telomeres.

“The idea we were looking at with the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids was an increase in the denominator to make the ratio smaller. In the United States, we need to focus on the omega-3 part because we don’t get enough of those,” Belury said.

The researchers also measured levels of compounds called F2-isoprostanes to determine levels of oxidative stress, which is linked to a number of conditions that include heart disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Both omega-3 groups together showed an average overall 15 percent reduction in oxidative stress compared to effects seen in the placebo group.

When the scientists revisited their earlier inflammation findings, they also found that decreases in an inflammatory marker in the blood called interleukin-6 (IL-6) were associated with telomere lengthening. In their earlier paper on omega-3s and inflammation, they reported that omega-3 supplements lowered IL-6 by 10 to 12 percent, depending on the dose. By comparison, those taking a placebo saw an overall 36 percent increase in IL-6 by the end of the study.

“This finding strongly suggests that inflammation is what’s driving the changes in the telomeres,” Kiecolt-Glaser said.

Telomeres are a hot topic in science, and their tendency to shorten is associated with such age-related problems as heart disease and early mortality. These short fragments of DNA act as caps at the end of chromosomes, and can be likened to the protective plastic at the end of a shoelace.

“If that plastic comes off, the shoelace unravels and it doesn’t work anymore,” said study co-author Ron Glaser, professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics and director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research(IBMR) at Ohio State. “In the same way, every time a cell divides, it loses a little bit of its DNA at the ends, and over time, that can cause significant problems.”

Kiecolt-Glaser noted that this population was disease-free and reported very little stress. The study included 106 adults, average age 51 years, who were either overweight or obese and lived sedentary lives. The researchers excluded people taking medications to control mood, cholesterol and blood pressure as well as vegetarians, patients with diabetes, smokers, those routinely taking fish oil, people who got more than two hours of vigorous exercise each week and those whose body mass index was either below 22.5 or above 40.

“People who are less healthy than this group, and especially those who experience chronic stress, may gain even more benefits from omega-3 supplementation,” she said.

Co-authors of the study include Elissa Epel, Jue Lin and Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco; Rebecca Andridge and Beom Seuk Hwang of Ohio State’s College of Public Health; and William Malarkey of the IBMR.

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

OmegaBrite, a company based in Waltham, Mass., supplied the supplements as an unrestricted gift but did not participate in the study design, results or publication. Study co-authors Blackburn, Epel and Lin are co-founders of Telome Health Inc., a telomere measurement company
 

Table 2. ALA content as the percentage of the whole food.

Contacts and sources:
Jan Kiecolt-Glaser
Martha Belury 
Written by Emily Caldwell