"Take Your Vitamins..."

…said the 90 year old senator to my husband when he was 20. Multivitamins taken daily have been associated with preservation of telomere length. Telomeres are little organelles in our cells that allow the cell to divide and make new cells. Telomeres shorten with each cell division and eventually get to short to allow division. This is part of aging. Preserving telomere length is thought to be significant in continued function and divisions of cells.

More research is needed but this is very promising in the Healthy Aging literature.

Multivitamins also have been shown to reduce the visible signs of aging in the skin.

So really, Take your Vitamins.

Omega 3 Fish Oils.

A recent Italian study looked at 7000 patients with chronic heart failure. In a placebo controlled, randomized trial study, patients received either omega-3 PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) from fish oil at 1 g/day or placebo.

The group getting omega-3s showed:

1. a 9% drop in all-cause mortality and
2. an 8% decline in death or cardiovascular hospitalization.  The study lasted 4 years. Statins had no significant effect on either of the two outcomes.