Daily omega-3 slows biological aging by almost 4 months

Key takeaways:

• A single gram of omega-3 daily over 3 years slowed biological aging by 2.9 to 3.8 months.
• The effects on biological aging were even greater when omega-3 was combined with daily vitamin D and exercise.

Consuming just 1 g of omega-3 a day may moderately slow down biological aging, an analysis published in Nature Aging showed.

The researchers further found that combining this strategy with exercise and vitamin D could be even more effective at slowing such aging.

Certain dietary habits, such as greater consumption of ultraprocessed foods, have been shown to influence biological aging.

Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, MD, MPH, DrPH, chair of geriatrics and aging research at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and Steve Horvath, PhD, a principal investigator at the Altos Labs Cambridge Institute of Science, told Healio in a joint email that the observed effects may seem small but, “if sustained, may have relevant effects on population health.”

The researchers wrote that prior observational and smaller studies have tied omega-3, vitamin D and exercise “to modulation of epigenetic clock measures of aging and omega-3 to [DNA methylation (DNAm)] changes.”

In the current post-hoc analysis, Bischoff-Ferrari and colleagues assessed the effects of omega-3, vitamin D and exercise on four DNAm clocks — PhenoAge, GrimAge, GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE — over 3 years during a clinical trial composed of 777 participants aged 70 years or older from Switzerland.

In the DO-HEALTH trial, which included eight different test groups, participants received:

• 1 g of omega-3 daily;
• 2,000 international units of vitamin D daily; and/or
• a 30-minute home exercise program three times a week.

The interventions were either combined or done alone.

Bischoff-Ferrari and colleagues found that omega-3 alone slowed the PhenoAge, GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE clocks.

The standardized effects of omega-3 on these clocks ranged from a reduction of 0.16 (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.3) to 0.32 (95% CI, 0.06 to 0.59) units, or 2.9 to 3.8 months, from baseline to year 3.

The finding was not dependent on factors like participants’ age, BMI or sex, according to the researchers.

Vitamin D supplementation alone and exercise alone did not reduce any of the four biological clocks.

However, the two interventions combined with omega-3 either individually or altogether slowed PhenoAge, with intervention effects ranging from a reduction of 0.24 to 0.32 units.

The researchers noted that the data build upon past findings from the trial, which indicated that omega-3 alone reduced infections and the rate of falls by 10% each and the three interventions combined reduced prefrailty and invasive cancer by 39% and 61%, respectively.

They added that participants who started with lower omega-3 levels experienced larger epigenetic shifts, which “further strengthens the case for personalized approaches.”

“This suggests that baseline nutritional status may modulate the extent of epigenetic responsiveness, emphasizing the potential of omega-3 as a targeted intervention to influence DNAm age and, by extension, biological aging,” they wrote.

Bischoff-Ferrari and colleagues highlighted a couple limitations of the analysis. For example, the study sample did not reflect the general populations of adults aged older than 70 years, and there is no gold-standard measurement for biological aging.

Still, the findings support “these three public health strategies as a combined solution at the public health level to extend health span in older adults,” Bischoff-Ferrari and Horvath told Healio. “Further, these strategies are affordable and safe, as shown in DO-HEALTH over a 3-year follow-up.”

Reference:

• Omega-3s can slow down aging process. https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/media/2025/omega-3s-aging-process.html. Published Feb. 4, 2025. Accessed Feb. 13, 2025.