How vitamin D might slow aging
Vitamin D, the familiar “sunshine vitamin,” is stepping into the spotlight for a very different reason: it may help slow cellular aging from the inside out. A new analysis of a large clinical trial suggests that daily vitamin D supplements can protect tiny structures on our DNA called telomeres, which are closely tied to how fast our cells, and ultimately our bodies, grow old. Vitamin D or cholecalciferol, known as "sunshine vitamin" might help slow down cellular aging Photo by Vitolda Klein on Unsplash How vitamin D might slow aging Telomeres sit at the ends of chromosomes like the plastic tips on shoelaces, shielding our genetic material each time a cell divides. As the years pass, these caps naturally shorten; when they become too short, cells stop dividing properly and are more likely to malfunction or die, raising the risk of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoarthritis. In the VITAL trial, researchers followed 1,031 older adults for four years and fou...