2 Simple & Easy Ways To Prevent Cellular Aging & Reduce Dementia Risk
If you're at all interested in supporting your longevity efforts (like we are), you may have heard that having shorter telomeres is a sign of biological aging—and thus, having longer telomeres is a sign of living a longer life. These little chromosomal caps help protect our DNA from damage, and measuring the rate of their decay over time can give us an accurate prediction for life span.
While we don't quite know if telomere shortening is the cause of death or simply a byproduct of it, one thing is for certain—telomere length is, in fact, associated with biological aging. And as it turns out, having longer telomeres is linked to a reduced risk of dementia as well.
Advertisement
Telomere length and dementia risk
A new study published by PLOS ONE compared telomere length in white blood cells to brain MRIs in over 31,000 UK participants and found a number of interesting correlations between telomere length and cognitive function1.
They found that individuals with longer telomeres had better brain health measurements, including:
- Larger volume of gray matter
- Larger hippocampus region
- Thicker cerebral cortex
- Lower volume of white matter hyperintensities
- Lower basal ganglia iron deposition
Advertisement
Shrinking gray matter volume, hippocampal atrophy, brain iron accumulation, and accelerated thinning cerebral cortex are all associated with Alzheimer's disease. Another important indicator of cognitive decline is an increasing volume of white matter hyperintensities, which grows with age.
This study's results suggest that longer telomeres provide neuroprotective actions and help prevent dementia. Additionally, accelerated cellular aging is a potential biological pathway for neurodegenerative disease.
How to increase your telomere length
While the biological aging process is a bit complex, lengthening telomeres to support healthy cellular aging is surprisingly simple.
When it comes to nutrition, there are two simple tools that can help increase telomere length and promote longevity:
- Daily multivitamin use was found to increase telomere length by 5%2 in women in a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Check out mindbodygreen's guide to choosing the best multivitamin to find a comprehensive multi that supports your unique health needs.
- Higher vitamin D levels were also found to be associated with longer telomeres3 in U.S. adults in a 2017 Archives of Medical Science study. Science shows the most effective way to raise vitamin D status is with quality supplementation. For a premium vitamin D that can help you achieve sufficiency, take a look at our top picks for the best vitamin D3 supplements on the market today.
Advertisement
The takeaway
Telomere length has been linked to biological aging for quite some time now, and a recent study from PLOS ONE shows that longer telomeres may even play a part in protecting the brain from dementia.
Consider lengthening your telomeres with the help of a daily multivitamin and/or a quality vitamin D supplement.
Advertisement
Morgan Chamberlain is a supplement editor at mindbodygreen. She graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree in magazine journalism and a minor in nutrition. Chamberlain believes in taking small steps to improve your well-being—whether that means eating more plant-based foods, checking in with a therapist weekly, or spending quality time with your closest friends. When she isn’t typing away furiously at her keyboard, you can find her cooking in the kitchen, hanging outside, or doing a vinyasa flow.