 A study published in the journal JeroScience has showed a link between vitamin D supplementation and a reduction of epigenetic age. A previous study on a cohort of participants between the ages of 60 and 85 years old has shown that those who are deficient in vitamin D have an average epigenetic age nearly a year older than others. Now this new study set out to answer a different question. Does restoring vitamin D levels through supplementation reverse the effects on epigenetic age? The participants in this study, like those in the original research, are from the Berlin Aging Study too. An extension and expansion of the original Berlin aging study intended to investigate how additional years of life can be lived in a healthy and active manner. At baseline, about half of the participants were deficient in vitamin D and only 7% were taking supplements. In the follow up portion, only a quarter were deficient and a fifth were taking supplements. In both times, about 60% of the participants received their blood draws during the sunnier months of the year, when vitamin D deficiency is less likely. The researchers note only 55 people whose increases in vitamin D can neither be explained by supplements nor by season. They also note that while some people who were originally taking vitamin D supplements had stopped, a full 82% of the supplement takers in this study had only begun after their baseline examination. In order to analyze the effects of supplementation, the researchers noted 63 people who were previously deficient in vitamin D but who became sufficient after supplementation. They then matched these participants, based on demographic data, to 63 people who were deficient and unsupplemented, marking them as the untreated group. Finally, another 63 unsupplemented but healthy people were utilized as controls. Experts who went from deficiency to sufficiency through vitamin D supplementation were shown to be epigenetically younger by more than 2.5 years according to the 7 CPG clock and a year and a quarter younger according to the Horvath clock. Some effects were also seen on other epigenetic aging clocks but those differences were not significant. There were also no significant differences between the vitamin D supplemented group and the people with naturally healthy levels of vitamin D. Like the researchers best efforts, this was a longitudinal study and not a true blinded effectiveness study. There was no placebo group and the treated, untreated and healthy groups were established after the fact. The researchers also note multiple other potentially confounding factors, most notably that vitamin D supplement takers may have tried to improve their health using other means as well. However, it is likely that an ongoing lack of vitamin D is having an effect on epigenetics but we'll need more studies to confirm that. When there's more to share, we'll have it for you here. I'm Ryan O'Shea and we'll see you next time on Lifespan News.