How Helping Older Dolphins Unlocked A Secret To Healthy Aging

Did you know that 1 in 3 older dolphins develops the same aging-associated conditions as humans?

While continually helping to improve the health of older Navy dolphins living in San Diego Bay, veterinarians found that some dolphins had elevated cholesterol, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and fatty liver disease – just like some of us.

By applying an advanced technology (called metabolomics) to study thousands of small molecules present in the dolphins’ archived serum and their all-fish diet, they found that C15:0, an odd-chain dietary fatty acid, was the top predictor of the healthiest aging dolphins. Even better? When dolphins were provided a diet higher in C15:0, their red blood cell, metabolic, and cardiovascular health improved.

Fast forward 10 years and 100+ peer-reviewed studies since that first scientific breakthrough, and we now know that C15:0 is a foundational healthy aging nutrient for humans, too. In fact, C15:0 (also known as pentadecanoic acid) is the first essential fatty acid to emerge in over 90 years, since omega-3. Let’s dive in.

 

How C15:0 Keeps Us Healthy As We Age

While we can’t slow our chronological age (how many years we have been alive), we now know that we can slow and even reverse our biological age. Molecules that slow biological aging and slow the onset of chronic aging-associated conditions are called geroprotectors. Excitedly, mounting studies support that C15:0 is a leading geroprotector that can help us stay healthier, longer.

Here’s how C15:0 is meeting the criteria of a geroprotector:

• Strengthening cells. C15:0 is a sturdy fatty acid that has no double bonds, making it particularly resistant to a process called lipid peroxidation. As such, one of its core roles is to physically strengthen our cell membranes against age-related oxidative breakdown. By doing so, C15:0 supports the Cell Membrane Pacemaker Theory of Aging, which shows that stable fatty acids in cell membranes result in lower lipid peroxidation and longer lifespans. So, stronger cells to support longer, healthier lives.
• Targeting core longevity-enhancing mechanisms. Beyond strengthening cells, C15:0 has 36+ benefits that support healthy aging. For example, C15:0 activates AMPK and inhibits mTOR, which are two core mechanisms within the Human Longevity Regulating Pathway. It also targets multiple hallmarks of aging, which explain how we age at the cellular level. To date, C15:0 has been shown to reverse numerous hallmarks of aging, including repairing mitochondrial function, balancing immune responses, and improving cellular signaling.
• Protecting our long-term cardiometabolic health, including meaningfully improving biomarkers of health within months. Impressively, numerous dose-dependent prospective cohort meta-analyses, which followed thousands of people throughout the world for many years, have consistently shown that people with higher C15:0 levels have better long-term metabolic and cardiovascular Beyond association, both preclinical studies and randomized controlled clinical trials support that increasing our C15:0 levels can improve red blood cell, liver, cholesterol, gut microbiome, and vascular health biomarkers.
• Showing evidence of slowing biological aging. A population study using two gold-standard methods of measuring biological age (called AgeAccelPheno and AgeAccelGrim) showed that people with higher amounts of C15 in their complex lipids have a younger biological age than their chronological age. This may be due to C15:0’s demonstrated ability in preclinical models to lower red blood cell distribution width (RDW), one of the biomarkers used in the PhenoAge Calculator, which estimates biological aging.

As further support for C15:0 as a geroprotector, people who live in Sardinia’s High Longevity Zone have C15:0 levels that are 2 to 3 times higher than those of the average person. Importantly, studies support that C15:0 is emerging as both a leading geroprotector and a foundational nutrient.

 

C15:0 As A Foundational Nutrient

By definition, a nutrient is a substance that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life. These substances are so important, that without them, we can develop a clinically-relevant nutritional deficiency. Let’s cover some key studies supporting that C15:0 is a foundational nutrient.

Controlled studies with multiple hallmark-deficiency animal models (including mice, piglets, and C. elegans) support the hypothesis that low or no dietary C15:0 in neonates results in poorer growth, and that restoring C15:0 restores healthy development. Additionally, prospective human cohort studies of mother-infant pairs have shown that higher C15:0 levels in mothers are associated with healthier growth and better cognitive development in their children. These studies strongly support that C15:0 is a foundational nutrient needed to support healthy growth and development.

Beyond childhood, a detailed pathophysiology of a C15:0 nutritional deficiency syndrome has been described that can impact us as adults, called Cellular Fragility Syndrome. This syndrome describes how low C15:0 in cell membranes leads to a newly discovered form of cell death called ferroptosis. In turn, ferroptosis accelerates aging and the onset and progression of aging-related cardiometabolic conditions. The ability of C15:0 to reverse this syndrome was recently revalidated, in detail, by a second independent team.

In summary, C15:0 is emerging as both an essential nutrient to support healthy aging across all life stages and a geroprotector that can help slow and reverse aging at the cellular level.

 

Fatty15: Your Science-Backed C15:0 Supplement

Developed by doctors and funded by the Office of Naval Research, fatty15 is an award-winning pure C15:0 supplement that strengthens cell membranes against age-related breakdown, delivering 36+ cellular benefits that support our metabolic, cognitive, liver, immune, and red blood cell health.^†*

While dolphins get C15:0 from certain types of fish, our primary source of C15:0 is dairy fat. Unfortunately, dairy fat contains only 1% of C15:0 and 40% of proinflammatory even-chain saturated fatty acids, which explains why studies on the health benefits versus risks of dairy foods have been so mixed.

 

 

Fatty15 delivers a patented, bioavailable, and science-backed C15:0 nutrient that we need, absent the proinflammatory fatty acids that we don’t need. In addition to providing the many healthy aging benefits described above, there is evidence of near-term benefits as well: In a survey of 6,243 fatty15 customers, 70% reported feeling or seeing benefits within 16 weeks, including better sleep, calmer mood, improved energy, and overall improved health.*

Not bad for the newest foundational nutrient on the block.

Thank you, dolphins! 🐬

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^†Claims determined by independent, third-party experts to be based on Competent and Reliable Scientific Evidence (CARSE).

*FDA disclaimer supplement language

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