August 13, 2018 | By

Vitamin D is for Age (D)efying

Once known for strengthening bones, preventing rickets in children, and helping absorb calcium, Vitamin D is adding a new super power.

New research from Gordon Lithgow PhD and Katie Dumas PhD, researchers at the
Buck Institute in Novato, shows Vitamin D may also help combat aging.

The researchers used genetically engineered Nematode worms that copy human diseases to study proteins that deteriorate with aging and are connected to diseases like Alzheimer’s.

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These Beta Amyloid proteins clump together and become toxic. In the Nematode worms, the harmed proteins stick together and appear as florescent gobs. Researchers believed they could track them for a high speed screening for drugs that might slow or reverse the aging.

During the study, they found one of these drugs was Vitamin D. It not only slowed the decay but extended life.

“The big hope in this research is we’ll find new ways to treat age-related diseases. So, what we’re really trying to do is extend health space, it may be that lifespan comes along with, but the goal is to make us healthier longer,” Lithgow said.

To read the full story from ABC News, click here.

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