The Link Between Vitamin D & Telomeres — And Why It Matters For Longevity

Consider telomeres little helmets for your DNA: These protein structures cap off both sides of our chromosomes to protect them from damage and decay over time. The longer the telomeres, the more protected the cells.

While there's a genetic component to telomere length and durability, there seem to be a few things we can do to help support our own telomeres1. Steven Gundry, M.D., heart surgeon and bestselling author of The Longevity Paradox: How To Die Young at a Ripe Old Age, shared an easy one when he appeared on the mindbodygreen podcast: Make sure you're getting enough vitamin D.

"Human beings with the highest vitamin D levels have the longest telomeres, and people with the lowest vitamin D levels have the [shortest] telomeres," Gundry told mbg co-CEO Jason Wachob, referring to research in the Archives of Medical Science2 and the Journal of Nutrition3 on the association between telomere length and vitamin D levels.

It seems that vitamin D, a hormone that's essential for a number of processes in the body, works by increasing the activity of telomerase4, the building blocks of telomeres that protect cellular DNA from aging. Gundry goes so far as to say that he thinks it's "the greatest hormone that exists."

While the body gets some vitamin D from food and sunlight, Gundry has noticed that the majority of his patients aren't getting enough of it (even though they live in sunny California). Getting levels up to the 600 I.U./day threshold the NIH recommends5 for adults 19 to 70 years old can require taking a vitamin D supplement, such as mindbodygreen's hemp multi+.*