C15:0 Science for Mom

Healthy Aging

How C15:0 Has a Special Love for Mothers

In celebration of Mother’s Day, this week we cover the fascinating science on how C15:0 is helping moms. When she is trying to be a mom, when she is becoming a mom, and when she is being a mom. Which helps all of us.

C15:0 love, from oocyte to embryo.

One of the most reliable biological and chronological clocks in women? Our number of oocytes. When we’re born, females have millions of oocytes. That decreases to 300,000 in our teens. And 72,000 when we hit 30.

As the name implies, women who have diminished ovarian reserve have accelerated loss of oocytes. To find out why, Zhao et al. assessed various fatty acids and found that women with lower C15:0 in their ovaries induced lower mitochondrial energy, down-regulated DNA repair genes, and apoptosis (self-destruction) of granulosa cells. Because granulosa cells are supportive ovarian cells that make progesterone and estrogen, the authors concluded that lower C15:0, among a handful of other fatty acids, may contribute to faster loss of oocytes. They also found that the higher a woman’s C15:0, the healthier her ovarian reserve and oocytes. In a separate study, Zarezadeh et al. showed that oocytes bathing in C15:0-rich follicular fluid were more likely to result in healthier-dividing embryos, which improves the outcome of in vitro fertilization. That’s a lot of C15:0 ovarian & oocyte love.

More than gestating science: C15:0 & pregnancy.

A study by Kaiser Permanente followed 321 women throughout their pregnancy and showed that those who had higher C15:0 had healthier glucose handling, immune response, and triglyceride levels. In another study, Li et al. demonstrated that pregnant women with the highest C15:0 levels had better fetal weight and size. They concluded that these findings “could inspire future interventions using an alternative… diet rich in odd-chain [saturated fatty acids] for optimal fetal growth.” All of this is encouraging science for our soon-to-be moms.

Supporting moms & healthy babies.

A team in Australia followed mother-baby pairs and found that the more C15:0 mom had in her milk, the more C15:0 baby had… which was linked to better, healthier infant growth. This included both body weight and head circumference. In a separate study in France, up to 1200 mom-baby pairs were followed to evaluate associations between mom’s C15:0 levels during pregnancy and breastfeeding and her child’s cognitive development up to 6 years old. Yuan et al. found that the higher mom’s C15:0 levels in: 1) her red blood cell membranes, and 2) her colostrum, the better her child’s overall cognitive development at ages 3 and 5-6 years old, including the child’s language abilities.

Given that our last two Science Says! issues focused on how C15:0 helps support cognitive health as we age, it is wonderful to see how C15:0 may help our brain health from the womb and beyond. All thanks to mom.

So, does mom have control over her C15:0 levels – during all the life stages above… as well as when she gets older?