A recent report of results and clinical data from a DO-HEALTH study by the University of Zurich reveals that the daily consumption of omega-3s, or vitamin D paired with daily exercise, can reduce the aging process. The study revealed that a mixture of exercise with either 1 gram of omega-3s or 2,000 IU of vitamin D reduces the risk of infections and falls, can prevent cancer, and premature frailty. This is still a fairly new concept, and there hasn’t been extensive testing done to confirm the results, but findings are promising.

“These results inspired us to measure the direct influence of these three therapies on the biological aging process in the Swiss DO-HEALTH participants,” says Bischoff-Ferrari, professor of geriatrics and geriatric medicine at the University of Zurich.

Scientists have been able to measure the difference between biological aging and chronological aging with the use of epigenetic clocks. These clocks measure the modifications made to DNA molecules. When researchers analyzed lab samples of the participants, they determined that omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D can slow biological aging by up to 4 months, regardless of the participant’s genetic makeup.

“This result extends our previous findings from the DO-HEALTH study, in which these three factors combined had the greatest impact on reducing the risk of cancer and preventing premature frailty over a three-year period, to slowing down the biological aging process,” says Bischoff-Ferrari.

However, Bischoff-Ferrari states, “There is no generally accepted gold standard for measuring biological age,” but “we analyzed the best currently validated epigenetic clocks, which reflect the state of the art.” Eventually, Bischoff-Ferrari and other researchers plan to expand their result analytics to all DO-HEALTH participants. This will include not just Swiss participants but also those from Germany, France, Austria, and Portugal to incorporate more genetic diversity.