Scientists may be able to slow down the aging process in humans

It is possible to keep the body’s cells alive longer by giving people a combination of the two dietary supplements, selenium and coenzyme Q10 shows a new Scandinavian study using preparations from Pharma Nord. This may help seniors stay healthy to a ripe old age.

All cells in the body have an expiry date but it may be possible to extend it. The study, which is published in the journal Nutrients, looked at the length of telomeres. Telomere-length is a well-known and recognised method of assessing the remaining lifespan of a cell.

Longer Telomeres with Selenium and Q10

The group of participants that received the two active supplements, SelenoPrecise and Bio-Quinone Q10, had significantly longer telomeres than the participants in the group that got placebo. In other words, taking the combination of the two substances extended the expiry date of the cells and that could have a significant impact on the speed of aging.

Telomeres protecting DNA

Telomeres are the end-caps of our DNA strings and just like the plastic snips at the end shoelaces they prevent the DNA from unravelling.
Telomeres become slightly shorter each time a cell divides. With time, they become so short the cell is no longer able to divide successfully; it becomes senescent leading to genetic errors or cell death eventually causing health problems.
What the study shows is that the mineral selenium and the vitamin-like compound coenzyme Q10 are able to protect the telomeres by slowing down the shortening process so the cells last longer.

Oxidative stress and inflammation

“We humans are exposed to accelerating aging where increased oxidative stress and inflammation speed up the process, especially if we lack selenium and CoQ10. However, if people who have low levels of these two compounds take a supplement, it can slow down their aging,” says lead researcher, Professor Urban Alehagen, a cardiologist from the University Hospital of Linköping in Sweden.

The recent study was made by analyzing blood samples that the team of scientists took regularly from over 443 study participants over a period of five years as part of the main study, KiSel-10, which was published in 2013 in International Journal of Cardiology. Here, they could see that the participants that took selenium and coenzyme Q10 had a 54 percent lower cardiovascular mortality rate compared with the placebo group.
Normally, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in old age. Their findings made them curious to find an explanation so they started a systematic analysis of the huge number of blood samples that were stored in special freezers.

Counteract biological decay

Since the publication of the main study in 2013, more than 20 follow-up studies have been published. Here, the scientists have been able to see by measuring various biomarkers that selenium and coenzyme Q10 appear to counteract some of the biological change that is normally seen in connection with the aging process.
“So far, we have observed that the two compounds have a positive impact on fibrosis, a phenomenon that is especially pronounced in connection with cardiovascular aging. We have also looked at other markers and can see that there is a relation between selenium intake and biological age,” Professor Alehagen explains.
In the most recent study, which is the 21st sub-study, they have focused on telomere length. And once again, the team of scientists has demonstrated that the combination of selenium and coenzyme Q10 seems to help seniors stay healthy longer.

Click here to learn more about Bio-SelenoQ10

A nutrient combo with scientific documentation

KiSel-10 is the first study of its kind to investigate in detail how the combination of organic selenium yeast and coenzyme Q10 affects the human body at a cellular level.

The two active preparations that were used by the team of scientists are based on decades of scientific collaboration between Pharma Nord and leading scientists in the field of nutrition. They are available as a combined preparation called Bio-SelenoQ10 with 200 micrograms of the patented selenium yeast (SelenoPrecise) and 200 mg of pharmaceutical-grade coenzyme Q10 (Bio-Quinone Q10), exactly like the combination used in the KiSel-10 study.

SelenoPrecise is documented in well over 40 published science studies that validate the superior bioavailability of this selenium yeast with its more than 20 different organic selenium species.

Bio-Quinone Q10, which is Pharma Nord’s unique coenzyme Q10 formulation, is documented in 75 published human studies, 26 of which are gold-standard trials. Both preparations have earned a reputation as highly reliable, pharmaceutical-grade supplements with documented safety, quality, absorbability, and effect.

SelenoPrecise is available as a mono preparation and marketed in a supplement version and a drug version.

Bio-Quinone Q10 is sold as a nutritional supplement but is also available in some countries as a drug (Myoquinone) intended to use as an adjuvant in the treatment of chronic heart failure.

Sources:
1. Opstad TB, Alexander J, Aaseth JO, Larsson A, Seljeflot I, Alehagen U.Selenium and Coenzyme Q10 Intervention Prevents telomere Attrition, with Association to Reduced cardiovascular Mortality- Substudy of a randomized Clinical trial. Nutrients 2022;14(16):3346.
2. Alehagen U, Johansson P, Björnstedt M, Rosén A, Dahlström U. “Cardiovascular mortality and N-terminal-proBNP reduced after combined selenium and Coenzyme Q10 supplementation”: a 5-year prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial among elderly Swedish citizens. "Int J Cardiol. 2013 Sep 1;167(5):1860-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2012.04.156. Epub 2012 May 23.

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Scientists may be able to slow down the aging process in humans

Longer Telomeres with Selenium and Q10

Telomeres protecting DNA

Oxidative stress and inflammation

Counteract biological decay