Fish Oil Fast Fact 213: Can Fish Oil Trump Genetics?
Posted by Michael Byrd on Mar 03 2010 | Tagged as: Fish Oil
While the span of your life is largely determined by your behavior during your lifetime, it is also impacted by your genetics. Many aging studies indicate that the length of the “caps” on your chromosomes, also called telomeres, can be an indicator of how long you will live. These “caps” are designed to protect your genetic sequences from weathering, and over time the telomeres wear away. Shorter telomeres will disappear sooner than longer ones, and many researchers believe that this wearing away has a direct impact on your body’s durability and the length of your life.
However, a new study conducted by scientists at the University of California San Francisco indicates that in fact you may have options for elongating your telomeres. Patients who received elevated doses of omega 3 fatty acids in the form of fish oil supplements had longer telomeres than those who did not supplement their diets with omega 3s.
The study was only 5 years long, so it is in no way conclusive at this point, but it certainly does indicate that omega 3 fatty acids could play an integral role not just in keeping your healthy, but in keeping your body young as well.
