Interesting study. Basically shorter telomeres indicate more aging. Those with higher omega 3 levels showed slower rates of telomere shortening.
Association of Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acid Levels With Telomeric Aging in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease
Excerpts:
[quote] 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 < 0.001 for linear trend across quartiles). Levels of DHA+EPA were associated with less telomere shortening before (unadjusted beta coefficient x 10-3 = 0.06; 95% CI, 0.02-0.10) and after (adjusted beta coefficient x 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. [/quote]
[quote]silverhydra wrote:
EGCG from Green Tea does the same thing apparently.
Starting to see why the Japanese are the longest living culture on earth, add in a bit of Resveratrol and you’re Immortal :)[/quote]
wasn’t there a caution about too much green tea or is it the case where you would have to drink a keg of green tea for it to be an issue?
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Although I’m not too sure about the details, there was something about EGCG being hepatotoxic.
I’m not sure whether this is a quantity issue, a supplemental form issue, or some adverse interaction / genetic susceptibility though.
I’ve never heard of a liver damage epidemic in green tea drinking cultures though, so I guess this may be something (although of concern) blown out of proportion by people trying to find negative things about good foods (Like the hordes of people screaming that fish oil causes significant neurological oxidation)
[quote]silverhydra wrote:
EGCG from Green Tea does the same thing apparently.
Starting to see why the Japanese are the longest living culture on earth, add in a bit of Resveratrol and you’re Immortal :)[/quote]
Just don’t lose your head
S
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Yeah, maybe I should get something that reduces ‘death from all causes’, since I just LOVE playing with guillotines, I need to supplement to protect myself
Ok, just followed up on that EGCG - Hepatotoxicity thingy:
All I could find are Rat studies, but they suggest that 50mg/kg BW per day increases hepatic necrosis (!) and one time administration of 1500mg/kg BW = Pretty much death.
The latter is synonymous with ‘Eat a bottle of pills’, so the former is the concern.
Apparently, one cup of regular Green Tea has 180mg EGCG, decaf has around 60mg, and Green Tea flavoured Beverages around 45mg
So for regular brewed green tea, 180mg per cup assumed; toxicity would occur (according to these studies) at:
19 cups for a 150lb individual
25 cups for a 200lb individual
31 cups for a 250lb individual
For you Americans, these values are 1.25 gallons, 1.65 gallons, and 2.08 gallons; respectively.
Mentioning this as these values are A LOT LOWER than I would have assumed, and it is wholly possible to overdose on EGCG (According to these studies) in a ‘more-is-better’ ‘Green tea promotes longevity’ ignorant kind of society that we live in.
Studies in question (Remember, rat studies; kinda hard to get ethics for inducing toxicity in humans)
