Increased telomerase activity and vitamin D supplementation in overweight African Americans.

Int J Obes (Lond). 2011 Oct 11. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2011.197.
Zhu H hzhu at mail.mcg.edu, Guo D, Li K, Pedersen-White J, Stallmann-Jorgensen IS, Huang Y, Parikh S, Liu K, Dong Y.
Georgia Prevention Institute, Department of Pediatrics, Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, GA, USA.

Objective:We aimed to investigate whether vitamin D supplementation modulates peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) telomerase activity in overweight African Americans.Design:A double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled clinical trial (#NCT01141192) was recently conducted.

Subjects And Methods:African-American adults were randomly assigned to either the placebo, or the vitamin D group (60?000?IU per month (equivalent to ?2000?IU per day) oral vitamin D3 supplementation). Fresh PBMCs were collected from 37 subjects (18 in the placebo group and 19 in the vitamin D group), both at baseline and 16 weeks. PBMC telomerase activity was measured by the telomeric repeat amplification protocol.

Results:Serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels increased from 40.7±15.7 at baseline to 48.1±17.5?nmol?l(-1) at posttest (P=0.004) in the placebo group, and
from 35.4±11.3 at baseline to 103.7±31.5?nmol?l(-1) at posttests (P<0.0001) in the vitamin D group.
In the vitamin D group, PBMC telomerase activity increased by 19.2% from baseline (1.56±0.29 absorbance reading unit (AU)) to posttest (1.86±0.42 AU, P<0.0001). The significance persisted after controlling for age, sex and body mass index (P=0.039). PBMC telomerase activity in the placebo group did not change from baseline (1.43±0.26 AU) to posttest (1.46±0.27 AU, P=0.157).

Conclusion:Vitamin D supplementation significantly increased PBMC telomerase activity in overweight African Americans. Our data suggest that vitamin D may improve telomere maintenance and prevent cell senescence and counteract obesity-induced acceleration of cellular aging.International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 11 October 2011; doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.197.

PMID: 21986705 PDF is attached at bottom of this page
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In 4 months (with just 4 pills) their vitamin D levels went from 14 ng ==> 41 ng.

Impressive for obese

Note: It appears that the Vitamin D testing occurred the same day that the pill was given.

• The 4th pill would not have been noticed in the blood for another 2-3 weeks
• VitaminDWiki assumes that the ultimate blood level obtained would have been 45+ ng

Reminder: 2009 Noble prize in Medicine was for discovery of an enzyme called telomerase

See also VitaminDWiki

• All items in category Mortality 320 items
• Higher vitamin D longer teleomere by 5 years - 2007 file does not state the ng level
• People with most vitamin D had telomeres associated with people ... file
• Do blacks have a 5 year life penalty due to low vitamin D
• Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D
• Overview Obesity and Vitamin D
• Vitamin D Council vs FDA concerning vitamin D deficiency in blacks and others - June 2011
• All items in Dark Skin and vitamin D 467 items
• Blacks not taking mulitvitamins were 5X more likely to be vitamin D deficient – June 2011
• Lack of vitamin D closely associated with black health disparities – Nov 2010 - Great charts
• Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life - book mentions vitamin D
• 60 percent chance of longer white blood cell (leukocyte) telomere if have lots of vitamin D – May 2013
• Lupus in blacks associated with low vitamin D AND short telomeres – May 2013

See also Web

• Google search telomere "vitamin d" 89,000 hits Oct 2011 for the previous 12 months
• PubMed search for Zhu H and Telomere 11 publications May 2013

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Omega 3 also helps telomers

Association of Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acid Levels With Telomeric Aging in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease

JAMA. 2010;303(3):250-257. doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.2008
Ramin Farzaneh-Far, MD; Jue Lin, PhD; Elissa S. Epel, PhD; William S. Harris, PhD; Elizabeth H. Blackburn, PhD; Mary A. Whooley, MD
Division of Cardiology, San Francisco General Hospital (Dr Farzaneh-Far), Departments of Medicine (Drs Farzaneh-Far and Whooley), Biochemistry and Biophysics (Drs Lin and Blackburn), Psychiatry (Dr Epel), and Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Dr Whooley), University of California, San Francisco, and Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Dr Whooley), San Francisco; and Sanford Research/USD and Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls (Dr Harris).

Context Increased dietary intake of marine omega-3 fatty acids is associated with prolonged survival in patients with coronary heart disease.
However, the mechanisms underlying this protective effect are poorly understood.

Objective To investigate the association of omega-3 fatty acid blood levels with temporal changes in telomere length, an emerging marker of biological age.

Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective cohort study of 608 ambulatory outpatients in California with stable coronary artery disease recruited from the Heart and Soul Study between September 2000 and December 2002 and followed up to January 2009 (median, 6.0 years; range, 5.0-8.1 years).

Main Outcome Measures We measured leukocyte telomere length at baseline and again after 5 years of follow-up. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used to investigate the association of baseline levels of omega-3 fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA]) with subsequent change in telomere length.

Results Individuals in the lowest quartile of DHA+EPA experienced the fastest rate of telomere shortening (0.13 telomere-to-single-copy gene ratio [T/S] units over 5 years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.09-0.17), whereas those in the highest quartile experienced the slowest rate of telomere shortening (0.05 T/S units over 5 years; 95% CI, 0.02-0.08; P < .001 for linear trend across quartiles).

Levels of DHA+EPA were associated with less telomere shortening before (unadjusted ? coefficient × 10?3 = 0.06; 95% CI, 0.02-0.10) and after (adjusted ? coefficient × 10?3 = 0.05; 95% CI, 0.01-0.08) sequential adjustment for established risk factors and potential confounders.

Each 1-SD increase in DHA+EPA levels was associated with a 32% reduction in the odds of telomere shortening (adjusted odds ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.47-0.98).

Conclusion Among this cohort of patients with coronary artery disease, there was an inverse relationship between baseline blood levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids and the rate of telomere shortening over 5 years.