Healthy Aging for All

Healthy Aging

The Science Behind C15:0 Benefits for Children

Here at Science Says!, we typically cover the latest science around C15:0’s healthy aging benefits for us adults. This week, however, we focus on the science behind how C15:0 helps support children’s health, too. Whether you have kiddos or not, there are critical learnings here. How often is a new nutrient discovered that is so important to our long-term health, that it helps support children’s healthy growth and cognitive function? (Answer: not often). Increasing studies are supporting that without enough C15:0, our earliest development may be negatively affected. Let’s dive in on C15:0 and kiddos, from healthy body growth & cognitive function to healthy livers & healthy blood pressure.

C15:0 & healthy body growth at the earliest stages.

In their study following 321 women throughout their pregnancy, Li et al. showed that those with highest C15:0 levels had the highest, healthiest fetal weight and size. Separately, a prospective cohort study by George et al. following mother-infant pairs showed that babies who received more C15:0 from their mother during their first year had associated healthier body growth.

Beyond association, Ciesielski et al. and Duan et al. showed in neonatal mouse and piglet models, respectively, that C15:0 supplementation directly improved body growth. The healthy growth benefit of C15:0 in these studies were attributed to its role as a PPARɑ agonist, as well as supporting healthy mitochondrial function.

Smart science behind C15:0 & healthy cognitive development.

In their prospective cohort study in France, Yuan et al. followed 1,200 mother-infant pairs and showed that children who received more C15:0 from their mother during their first year were associated with better cognitive development at ages 3 and 6 years old. These findings align with Ruan et al., which showed that C15:0 alone, in the absence of all other nutrients, restored healthy neuronal development in postembryonic C. elegans, a relevant nematode model. This neuronal development benefit of C15:0 was attributed to its role as an mTOR inhibitor.

C15:0 may support children’s liver health, too.

Sawh et al.’s cross-sectional study with 237 children (ages 8 to 17) showed that higher circulating C15:0 levels independently predicted lower fat in the liver. In this study, the median C15:0 intake was 106 mg (range 0 to 445 grams) per day.

Beyond association, Aabis et al. and Wei et al. demonstrated that pure C15:0 supplementation has a direct, positive effect on liver function in multiple preclinical models. Further, in a randomized, controlled clinical trial in young adults with obesity, Robinson et al. found that C15:0 supplementation among young adults (18 to 24 year-olds) raised C15:0 levels. Better yet, those who achieved C15:0 levels > 5 ug/ml had improved liver and red blood cell function. In these studies, the positive effect of C15:0 on supporting liver health, including children, has been attributed to its role as a PPARɑ/δ agonist, antioxidant, and immune balancer.

Healthy blood pressure & C15:0… in kids

Huang et al.’s cross-sectional study with 421 children showed that higher levels of odd-chain saturated fatty acids (including C15:0 and C17:0) were associated with a 55 to 59% greater likelihood of having healthy blood pressure. This study is aligned with Chen et al., who reported similar associations found between higher C15:0 and healthier blood pressure in adults.

Further, multiple prospective cohort meta-analyses, including Li et al., Shi et al., and Trieu et al., have repeatedly shown associated dose-response improvements in protected long-term cardiovascular health in adults. Beyond association, our own studies have shown that C15:0 directly lowers multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines in human cell systems mimicking cardiovascular health. Further, Chooi et al.’s randomized clinical trial showed that C15:0 supplementation supported healthy LDL-cholesterol levels. In Arghavani et al.’s cross-over clinical trial with healthy adults, increased dairy fat intake raised C15:0 levels, and these raised C15:0 levels were associated with supported vascular function. Combined, these studies support that C15:0 protects long-term cardiovascular health, and these protective benefits may start during childhood.

What are children’s dietary sources of C15:0?

Kids’ primary dietary source of C15:0 is full-fat dairy, where C15:0 represents about 1% of all fatty acids in dairy fat. Dairy fat is such an important source of C15:0 for humans, that nutritional studies have long used circulating C15:0 levels as a biomarker to measure how much dairy fat people eat. This holds true for youth, too – Golley et al. and Slim et al. showed that the more dairy fat children and adolescents eat, the higher their circulating C15:0 concentrations.

The impact of reduced-fat dairy products on children’s C15:0 levels

Nicholl et al’.s double-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial with healthy 4 to 6 year-olds showed that children who ate reduced-fat versus whole-fat dairy products had significantly lower circulating C15:0 levels. Given an average decline of 12.9 g dairy fat intake per day in the reduced- vs. whole-fat dairy groups, this translates to children on the reduced-dairy fat diets getting 129 mg less C15:0 per day. This suggests that children on reduced-dairy fat diets may have circulating C15:0 levels of 0.13% – about half of what is emerging as healthy C15:0 levels.