Treating middle-aged people for six months with a supplement combination that included astragalus, a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, positively impacted their telomeres [1].
Preventing the shortening
Telomeres are like shoelace aglets, forming protective caps at the ends of DNA strands. They are made of a specific repetitive sequence of nucleotides. They prevent chromosome ends from being damaged and helps to preserve genome integrity, but each replication cycle reduces telomere length by about 50 to 200 base pairs. Environmental factors, including diet, physical activity, and lifestyle, impact this rate of shortening [2].
The only enzyme that can replicate telomeres and lengthen them again is telomerase. When telomerase is inactive, telomeres become shorter and shorter with each cell cycle until they reach a critically low length. At that point, cells can no longer divide, and they undergo senescence or apoptosis.
Some compounds can also activate telomerase, and active compounds in astragalus, such as astragaloside IV and cycloastragenol, have been reported to have such activity in vitro and in animal experiments [3].
A supplement with no apparent side effects
The authors of this study conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial to test the impact of an active astragalus-based supplement and a few other compounds on the telomere length.
During the trial, 40 healthy volunteers between 40 and 70 years old with a mean age of 56 were randomly assigned to a placebo group or an astragalus supplement group for six months. Each group consisted of 8 men and 12 menopausal women. Both groups had similar metrics at baseline, including medical history, body mass index, weekly physical activity, and biochemical test values. Participants had their measurements taken at baseline and during visits at one month, three months, and six months.
While the researchers included both sexes in their study, they didn’t analyze the results separately for each sex, which is something worth doing in the future since there are known differences in the telomere length between men and women [4].
The tested supplement, ASTCOQ02, was a mix of many ingredients, including “astragalus extracts (including astragaloside IV and cycloastragenol), olive fruit extract (including hydroxytyrosol), zinc oxide, and grape seed extract.” It was taken twice daily for six months. This supplement has not been reported to be toxic, and the authors emphasize that hydroxytyrosol can inhibit oxidative stress and inflammation.
The researchers did not observe any side effects during the study. The lab results and the measurements taken from the study subjects didn’t show any changes in weight, blood pressure, heart rate, or heart functioning. There was also no indication of inflammation.
Improvements in telomere length
Measurements of median telomere length didn’t show significant differences between groups at baseline, although the placebo group trended towards having longer telomeres. Over this experiment’s duration, “in the placebo group, the median telomere length either decreased or remained stable.”
In the group that was taking the supplement blend, the researchers observed a significant increase in telomere length compared to baseline. At month one, there was an increase of 271 kilo base pairs (kbp), 472 kbp at three months, and 695 kbp at six months.
The researchers also observed an increase in short telomere length. First, the researchers looked into the mean size of short telomeres at baseline and observed that the placebo group had a higher mean size of short telomeres. That value remained stable throughout the experiment. These results were similar to the median short telomere length, which remained stable after a slight decrease at one month.
In the group taking the supplement, “the median short telomere length increased significantly compared to baseline, starting at one month” and was significantly increased again at three and six months. Additionally, the percentage of short telomeres decreased significantly in the supplement-treated group at six months.
Effects on aging and disease
Reduced telomere length has been shown to correlate with senescence, and it can be used as a marker of aging. It has been associated with age-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease.
The authors suggest that their study “opens a novel and effective therapeutic pathway to control telomere length in aging and/or support the prevention of cardiovascular-related diseases.” However, these hypotheses still need to be tested in future experiments.
This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study confirmed that ASTCOQ02 lengthens both median and short telomeres by increasing telomerase activity and reduces the percentage of short telomeres (under 3 kbp). In addition, our results further confirm our previous open prospective preliminary study that found zero toxicity associated with the intake of ASTCOQ02. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial confirmed that ASTCOQ02 can lengthen telomeres in a statistically and possibly clinically significant manner. ASTCOQ02 warrants further research to investigate its pro-health benefits for healthy aging and longer life expectancy.
Literature
[1] de Jaeger, C., Kruiskamp, S., Voronska, E., Lamberti, C., Baramki, H., Beaudeux, J. L., & Cherin, P. (2024). A Natural Astragalus-Based Nutritional Supplement Lengthens Telomeres in a Middle-Aged Population: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. Nutrients, 16(17), 2963.
[2] Srinivas, N., Rachakonda, S., & Kumar, R. (2020). Telomeres and Telomere Length: A General Overview. Cancers, 12(3), 558.
[3] Harley, C. B., Liu, W., Flom, P. L., & Raffaele, J. M. (2013). A natural product telomerase activator as part of a health maintenance program: metabolic and cardiovascular response. Rejuvenation research, 16(5), 386–395.
[4] Huang, Z., Liu, C., Ruan, Y., Guo, Y., Sun, S., Shi, Y., & Wu, F. (2021). Dynamics of leukocyte telomere length in adults aged 50 and older: a longitudinal population-based cohort study. GeroScience, 43(2), 645–654.
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