C15:0 Science Round-Up Series: Efficacy Studies

Healthy Aging

Let’s Talk Efficacy

It’s back to school time, so we thought, what better time to do a Round-Up Series on what makes C15:0, well, so science-backed? In this series, we are covering the following six key topics on C15:0:

• Mechanisms of Action: How C15:0 works
• Optimal Effective Levels & Daily Intake: C15:0 bioavailability and amounts needed to achieve active levels
• Cell-Based Efficacy: What C15:0 does at the cellular level
• In Vivo Efficacy: What C15:0 does at the whole-body level
• Epidemiological Studies: People who have higher levels of C15:0 have healthier __________ (we’ll fill in the blanks)
• Clinical Trials: Randomized controlled clinical trials with C15:0

What makes the science behind C15:0 so robust is its consistency across all six topics above – including 100+ studies across numerous independent research teams throughout the world. We’re also sharing how C15:0 study outcomes – from its mechanisms of action to clinical trials – are intricately interlinked.

Last week, we covered population-based studies showing how people with higher C15:0 have better long-term metabolic, heart, liver, and red blood cell health. This week, we summarize a slew of cell-based and in-body efficacy studies.

C15:0 calms pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress.

As we get older, our cells become more susceptible to oxidative stress. Which increases pro-inflammatory cytokines. Which increases oxidative stress. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle. Here’s the good news:

• Wei et al. and Aabis et al. showed that C15:0 supplementation in two different rodent models lowered oxidative stress.
• Wu et al., Bishop et al., Singh et al., and Venn-Watson et al. demonstrated that C15:0 supplementation lowered pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, TNFɑ, and MCP-1 in rodents, too.
• Aligned with these studies, Venn-Watson & Schork showed that C15:0 effectively lowered a whopping 18+ pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, TNFɑ, and MCP-1 in a dose-response fashion.

These studies support that C15:0 helps to break the oxidative-stress-to-pro-inflammatory-cytokine cycle. We’ll talk about the mechanisms behind these effects next week.

C15:0 supports cardiovascular & metabolic health.

There are a growing number of studies showing how C15:0 works in the body and cells to support cardiovascular and liver health, including the following:

• In rodent models, C15:0 supplementation supported healthy cholesterol and glucose levels.
• Fu et al. showed that, at the cellular level, C15:0 increased healthy glucose uptake by muscle cells. C15:0 also improved insulin sensitivity and, surprisingly, even served as an insulin mimic.
• In human vascular cell systems, C15:0 protected vessels by lowering pro-inflammatory cytokines.

These studies align with clinical trials we shared a couple weeks back, which linked higher C15:0 intake with healthier LDL cholesterol and improved vascular health, as well as those population-based studies showing that people with higher C15:0 have better long-term cardiovascular and metabolic health.

C15:0 promotes gut & liver health.

Moving on, C15:0 also supports gut & liver health in rodent models:

• Aabis et al. and Wei et al. showed that C15:0 supplementation supported healthy liver function, including lowering the liver enzymes ALT and AST.
• Singh et al., Wei et al., and Wu et al. also demonstrated that C15:0 supplementation protected a healthy gut, including the integrity of the gut lining.

The liver-supporting benefits of C15:0 are backed by a clinical trial by Robinson et al., showing that when C15:0 levels are > 5 ug/ml, liver function improves (aka lower ALT and AST). Which parallels Zheng et al.’s population cohort study showing that people with higher C15:0 have better long-term liver health.

Let’s not forget that C15:0 supports red blood cell health & healthy iron metabolism.

Last but not certainly not least, Aabis et al. showed that C15:0 supplementation in relevant models effectively strengthened and protected red blood cells, resulting in:

• Raised hemoglobin
• Raised red blood cells
• Lower red blood cell distribution width (RDW)
• Restored healthy iron balance

Which matches the Robinson et al. clinical trial in which people supplemented with C15:0 who had raised C15:0 levels had higher hemoglobin. This also lines up with Sobeleva et al.’s study, which showed that people with higher C15:0 have healthier, more stable red blood cells.