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Science Says!
N—69
Welcome to Issue 69 of Science Says! Our weekly newsletter where you’ll learn the latest healthy aging and C15:0 research news that our team of doctors, scientists, and experts are most excited about—without having to go search for it.
Eric and Steph
Co-Founders, Doctors, Nerds
What Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson, our co-founder and author of The Longevity Nutrient and over 80 peer-reviewed scientific publications, is reading.
In the last Science Says! newsletter, we shared our most recent study showing that C15:0 has more clinically relevant cellular benefits than leading longevity-enhancing molecules.
While that paper focused on how C15:0 slows aging-related breakdown later in life, a recent paper by Li et al. supports C15:0’s critical role in giving us our best longevity chances at birth.
This is an important one, so lean in.
Upping our longevity odds.
It’s pretty simple. As reviewed by Collela et al., if we don’t develop well in the womb, we are more likely to develop chronic diseases as an adult.
In one of the largest-ever prospective cohort studies of its kind, Li et al. showed that pregnant women with higher odd-chain saturated fatty acid levels (specifically C15:0) had healthier growing babies. That’s great.
On the flip side, women with higher even-chain saturated fat levels (like C18:0) had babies with poorer growth. That’s not great.
What did this study actually measure?
In this clinical trial, Li et al. evaluated 1) saturated fatty acid levels in pregnant women and 2) multiple measurements of fetal growth throughout their pregnancies, including:
They found that pregnant women with higher C15:0 levels were significantly more likely to have healthier babies across all five indices above.
Perhaps just as importantly, pregnant women with higher C18:0 levels had poorer baby health indices across all five areas.
Wait, isn’t this just an association between C15:0 and better growth?
While this clinical trial established associations between different types of saturated fatty acids and the health of baby development, Li et al. discuss how odd vs. even-chain saturated fats can directly affect baby growth:
Good fat. Prior studies have shown that C15:0 supports glucose control and lowers inflammation. Li et al. propose that these benefits could explain how higher C15:0 in mom translates to healthier growth of her baby.
Bad fat. Conversely, Li et al. propose that the inflammatory effects of even-chain saturated fats may be the cause of poorer fetal growth.
Given the strength of their clinical trial data and the demonstrated ability for C15:0 to support maternal health, the authors conclude that C15:0 supplementation in mothers may be key to supporting healthy baby development, too.
Why the Li study is important.
Beyond making healthy babies (which in and of itself is pretty darn good), there is a lesson here that is important to all of us. Not all saturated fats are created equally. This helps to answer a common question we get:
“If C15:0 is naturally found in cow’s milk, why not just drink more milk?”
Here’s the emerging answer:
While about 1% of the fat in whole cow’s milk contains the essential C15:0 nutrient, more than 50% of milk fat contains pro-inflammatory even-chain saturated fatty acids, including C16:0 and C18:0. Those aren’t great odds.
In fact, studies with models of type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease have shown that:
In humans, there are now numerous studies linking higher C15:0 to better long-term metabolic, heart, liver, and immune health. In these exact same studies, higher even-chain saturated fats (C16:0 and C18:0) are linked to poorer health.
This latest study by Li et al. further supports the need to separate out C15:0 from even-chain saturated fatty acids to meaningfully improve our long-term health – even before birth.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
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