Supplements Boost Postmenopausal Serum Biomarkers
Postmenopausal women who took vitamin B 12 , fish oil, or flaxseed oil as dietary supplements had significantly higher levels of accompanying serum biomarkers than those who did not use these supplements, based on new data presented at American Society for Nutrition (ASN) 2025 Annual Meeting.
Dietary supplement use in the US is common among older adults, but data on the health effects of dietary supplements remain relatively mixed, said presenting author Hannah T. Baillie, MS, RD, in an interview.
Hannah T. Baillie, MS, RD
'One way to measure whether or not supplements could be getting to the intended targets in the body is to measure the amount of the supplement's nutrients in the blood. This could inform whether the supplements have their intended health effects in an objective manner,' said Baillie, a PhD student at the University of Washington, Seattle.
To examine the associations between dietary supplements and higher serum concentrations of corresponding biomarkers, Baillie and colleagues enrolled 153 participants in the Women's Health Initiative in a 2-week controlled feeding study.
The participants consumed an individualized menu, including a habitual diet, and continued use of their usual dietary supplements. After 2 weeks, the researchers measured serum vitamin B 12 , lutein plus zeaxanthin, and phospholipid fatty acids.
In a multiple linear regression analysis, the geometric mean serum concentration of vitamin B 12 was 58% higher among women who used any type of vitamin B 12 dietary supplement than among nonusers ( P < .001). In addition, the geometric mean serum concentrations of phospholipid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) ranged from 38% to 46% higher among users of fish oil or flaxseed oil supplements than among nonusers ( P < .0001).
Use of dietary supplements containing lutein plus zeaxanthin had no significant impact on serum concentrations ( P = .72).
However, individuals who used two sources of a dietary supplement containing vitamin B 12 as well as two different sources of supplementation with lutein plus zeaxanthin had significantly higher serum biomarker levels than either individuals who took a single multivitamin containing B 12 and lutein plus zeaxanthin or individuals who took neither ( P < .0001 for both).
'I was surprised by how many different supplements participants were taking; I expected it to be high, but one participant was taking 18 supplements per day,' Baillie told Medscape Medical News . 'I was also surprised by the lack of association between use of lutein + zeaxanthin-containing supplements and serum lutein + zeaxanthin concentrations,' she said. The negligible increases in serum concentrations with supplement use point to potential issues with absorbing or utilizing these nutrients from supplemental sources, she noted.
The study findings highlight the need for clinicians to ask patients not only about the use of dietary supplements but also about the dose of those supplements, said Baillie.
The researchers also looked at serum concentrations in response to different doses of vitamin B 12 . 'We looked to see if those taking individual vitamin B 12 , just a multivitamin containing B 12 , both those supplements, or neither had different serum concentrations of vitamin B 12 ,' Baillie said.
The researchers found that individuals taking > 1000 mcg in a supplement (an average amount in single B 12 supplements) did not have significantly higher serum concentrations than those taking both supplements (which would represent a larger dose).
The unreliable and inadequate labeling of nutrient content on dietary supplement packaging was a main study limitation, Baillie told Medscape Medical News . 'Although the contents from labels of each dietary supplement were recorded into our database, prior research has shown there may be discrepancies in what is reported on labels and what each supplement contains,' she said. 'Additionally, labels are not consistent in how nutrient information is reported; for example, for fish oil supplements, omega-3 fatty acids are sometimes displayed as total omega-3 fatty acids, sometimes as EPA and DHA, and on other labels as total EPA + DHA,' Baillie said. This discrepancy makes consistent assessment of total nutrient intake a challenge and limits what conclusions that can be drawn from the data, she noted.
Raising Awareness, Examining Intake
'Additional research investigating best practices for assessing nutrient intake from dietary supplements is needed, and this may require changes in the requirements around dietary supplement labeling,' Baillie told Medscape Medical News . Future research also should address assessing serum response among a more heterogeneous population, she added.
Older women often take supplements without knowing their full effect, and the current study is important to help alert clinicians to ask patients about type, timing, and dose, said Christine M. Sager, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, in an interview.
The findings were not unexpected, said Sager, who was not involved in the study. 'In clinical practice, we see similar elevations in B 12 when patients are taking B vitamins,' she said.
The current study is too short and too small to make global recommendations on supplement intake, but the results suggest that the type, dose, and time of day matter for many supplements, just as with medications, although research on this topic is limited, Sager said. 'Also, serum levels do not always correlate with goals of therapy,' she noted. Looking ahead, the safety and efficacy of intravenous vitamins and supplements is an important question for additional research, Sager added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Geek Wire
3 days ago
- Geek Wire
The Rubin Observatory is throwing a big party to reveal its first pictures — and you're invited
After more than 20 years of planning and construction, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is ready for its grand opening, and the world is invited. The observatory in the foothills of the Chilean Andes features a monster of a telescope, with an 8.4-meter-wide (28-foot-wide) mirror, coupled with what's said to be the world's largest digital camera. It will survey the night sky every night for at least 10 years, producing about 20 trillion bytes of data every 24 hours. It would take you more than three years of watching Netflix, or over 50 years of listening to Spotify, to use that amount of data, according to the Rubin team. The first images and videos are due to be unveiled on Monday, during a 'First Look' webcast that will be shared online and at more than 300 in-person watch parties across the globe. What will the images look like? Mario Juric knows, but he isn't telling. 'I cannot tell you what's on them, but I can tell you we just finished them, and they look amazing,' Juric, a member of the Rubin team and the director of the University of Washington's DiRAC Institute, says on the Fiction Science podcast. 'I did not spend a day doing what I was supposed to be doing, because I just spent it browsing through the images. … I could teach an entire class by just zooming in on different parts of this image and explaining what this object is.' There could be a lot of teachable moments ahead: The observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope is expected to detect millions of previously unseen celestial bodies in our solar system, potentially including a hypothetical world known as Planet X or Planet 9. It'll serve as an early warning system for transient cosmic phenomena such as supernovas or gamma-ray bursts. And it could help scientists shed new light on the mysteries behind dark energy and dark matter. Mario Juric (UW Photo) The dark matter angle is particularly apt, because the observatory is named after the late Vera Rubin, an astronomer who analyzed the rotation rates of galaxies to come up with some of the most solid evidence we have that invisible dark matter exists. Even before Rubin died in 2016, her fellow scientists were laying the groundwork for the observatory that would eventually bear her name. In 2003, they started discussing potential sites for what was then called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST. Juric recalls attending one of the early discussions in Seattle. At the time, astronomers were just finishing up a successful project known as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. 'People were asking, what do we build next? What's the next major step in this idea to go and digitize the cosmos?' Juric says. 'And the idea was to build something like Rubin.' In 2008, the project received a $30 million boost from Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi and the company's co-founder, Bill Gates. Eventually, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy kicked in hundreds of millions of dollars to support the observatory's construction in Chile. Turning data into discoveries The observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope features a unique three-mirror design that maximizes the instrument's field of view. It's made to move across a swath of sky in just a few seconds, allowing the LSST Camera to capture a 3,200-megapixel image in 15 seconds and then switch to take the next image five seconds later. That speed makes it possible for the observatory to map the sky in high resolution every three days. It takes less than 60 seconds to transfer each image over fiber-optic cables from Chile to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California for an initial round of processing. The flood of imagery is distributed to data centers around the world, and scientists can access and filter the data through an online portal. Astronomical data analysis is the specialty of UW's DiRAC Institute. Its name is an acronym, standing for Data-intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology. Astronomers have traditionally been 'physicists who look up,' Juric says, but he argues that working with Rubin's rush of data will require a new set of skills — the kinds of skills that are being taught at the DiRAC Institute. 'You now need to become a data scientist, and you need to become a really good statistician,' he says. 'That's the kind of background that you're going to need to make sense out of all these data that Rubin is going to deliver to us.' A software tool that Juric helped develop, known as Sorcha, hints at the enormity of the task ahead. Sorcha makes predictions about how much data will be generated by the Rubin Observatory, and how many discoveries could be made as a result. 'The number that I like to quote is, it took all of mankind about … 225 years to discover the first one and a half million asteroids. And in less than two years, Rubin is going to double that, and then go on and triple that a few years later,' Juric says. University of Washington astronomer Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction, joyfully raises his fist in the observatory's control room in Chile after seeing the first on-sky engineering data captured with the LSST Camera. (Credit: RubinObs / NOIRLab / SLAC / DOE / NSF / AURA / W. O'Mullane) Are there anomalies ahead? What about Planet 9, which astronomers have been trying to detect on the edge of the solar system for more than 10 years? 'If it's out there, we have something like a 70 or 80% chance to find it,' Juric says. 'Even if we don't directly notice it, my guess is in about three years or so, that's how much time it will take us to accumulate this data to sufficient precision [that] we'll confidently be able to say whether it is there and just really, really hard to find — or whether this whole thing has been just us astronomers hoping a little bit too much.' There's even a chance that the Rubin Observatory will pick up evidence of alien signals. Some astronomers, including UW's James Davenport, have speculated that Rubin could detect anomalous patterns that might be associated with extraterrestrial spaceships. 'The nice thing with this telescope is, we're going to collect so much data that we'll be able to go and look for these rare, unusual, anomalous signals. And who knows, maybe one of them is an E.T. shining a laser at us,' Juric says. 'It'll be fun.' The fun begins at 8 a.m. PT on Monday when the First Look webcast goes online. 'A couple of days after that, on the 26th, we're going to have an extended version of that for the general public on the UW Seattle campus, at Kane Hall,' Juric says. 'We really invite everyone here from Seattle or the Pacific Northwest, however far you want to drive, to come over and see that with us in person.' The in-person event on June 26 will start at 7 p.m. and feature an hourlong presentation about Rubin's first images. Speakers will include Juric as well as UW astronomer Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction; and Andrew Connolly, who was the DiRAC Institute's founding director and is now the director of UW's eScience Institute. Juric expects the fun, and the hard work of discovery, to continue for at least the next decade. 'Rubin should have the kind of impact that when we look at textbooks 10 years from now, almost every textbook has to change something because Rubin has added to that piece of human knowledge,' he says. 'It's a fairly high bar to meet, but it is a big, expensive telescope. That's what we're aiming for: It's got to be transformational.' Check out the Rubin Observatory website for more information about the project and for links to the First Look webcast on June 23, plus a list of watch parties. You can also learn more about the University of Washington's DiRAC Institute and find out how to register for the free UW presentation at 7 p.m. on June 26. My co-host for the Fiction Science podcast is Dominica Phetteplace, an award-winning writer who is a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and lives in San Francisco. To learn more about Phetteplace, visit her website, Fiction Science is included in FeedSpot's 100 Best Sci-Fi Podcasts. Check out the original version of this report on Cosmic Log to get Juric's thoughts on the connections between science fiction and the Rubin Observatory's future discoveries. Stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and Podchaser. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes.
CNET
4 days ago
- CNET
Omega-3s: Benefits, Drawbacks and Foods to Add to Your Diet
You probably know at least one person who takes fish oil to boost their omega-3s, which are said to benefit heart, eye and cognitive health. But what exactly are omega-3s? In addition to the potential benefits, it's important to consider side effects and whether omega-3s are right for your body. You should also note that omega-3s are present in many foods you may have in your pantry or fridge right now, so supplements may not be necessary unless your doctor recommends them. What are omega-3 fatty acids? Omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat, are an essential part of the human diet. Unlike other fats that the body is capable of synthesizing (called non-essential fatty acids), omega-3s can't be made from scratch. They're vital for various bodily processes, such as making hormones for blood clotting, artery contraction and relaxation, and genetic functions. In other words, we need omega-3s, and we can only get them from food or supplements. There are three main types of omega-3 fatty acids: Eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA Docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA Alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA Adding omega-3s to your diet fcafotodigital/E+/Getty Images Different types of foods provide different omega-3 fatty acids. The first two types, EPA and DHA, are abundant in fish, which is why they're commonly called "marine omega-3s." The third type, ALA, is common in a variety of food sources, including certain oils, nuts, leafy vegetables and some meats. Some of the best sources of omega-3s are: Herring Wild salmon Bluefin tuna Mackerel Sardines Anchovies Lake trout Striped bass Walnuts Flaxseed oil Meat from grass-fed animals Chia seeds Canola oil Fish, by far, is the best source of omega-3s. If you're vegan or otherwise don't eat seafood, you may need to work especially hard to get enough of these important fats in your diet. In that case, omega-3 supplements may be helpful, especially for EPA and DHA. Although your body naturally converts a small amount of ALA to DHA and EPA, it may be a good idea to make sure you're consuming fish or supplements that include these. Science-backed benefits of omega-3s carlosgaw/E+/Getty Images Scientists have noted a variety of benefits that may be associated with omega-3 fatty acids. Some of these have more evidence than others, so we'll look at the most notable benefits with some of the most promising scientific support. Lower your risk of heart disease A wide array of studies has shown a connection between heart health and omega-3 fatty acids. These fats appear to have a positive impact on various aspects of cardiovascular health. Most notably, though, omega-3s have been correlated with more stable heart rhythm, lower blood pressure and heart rate, better blood vessel function, and lower levels of inflammation. Replacing saturated fats, such as red meat, butter and whole fat dairy, with unsaturated fats such as omega-3s may lower risk of developing heart disease. Fight anxiety and depression Although more research is needed as to the exact correlation between mental health and omega-3 intake, there appears to be strong evidence that these fats can help to reduce depression and anxiety for many people. EPA, in particular, has shown promising results as a treatment for mild-to-moderate depression. Enhance eye health Omega-3s -- EPA and DHA in particular -- play a major part in building the cellular makeup of our eyes. Not only do they help during our early stages of development, but research suggests a steady, adequate intake of these fats can help prevent vision problems, such as macular degeneration later in life. Promote prenatal and infant brain development Scientists are actively studying the general connection between omega-3s and brain health, particularly in the womb and during our early life. Some studies have shown that children of mothers who take omega-3 supplements during pregnancy and breastfeeding may have better mental processing capabilities than those who don't. Additionally, studies have shown that mothers who take DHA supplements can improve breast milk nutrition for infants, leading to better cognitive function and eyesight later in life. Slow cognitive decline Because of the connection between omega-3s and general brain health, it's perhaps no surprise that some research supports that these fats may slow cognitive decline as we age. This may be particularly promising for helping to slow the effects of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, though more research is still needed in this area. Scientists are still studying these and many other benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, including their effect on ADHD, metabolic syndrome and certain autoimmune diseases. Drawbacks to omega-3 supplements Generally, doctors recommend that you get most or all of your omega-3 fatty acids from food sources. Broiled or baked fish (not fried) is the best thing to add to your diet, along with some of the other foods mentioned above. Omega-3 supplements, such as fish oil or cod liver oil, offer many of the same benefits as getting these fats through food sources, though. These supplements are generally considered safe when taken in moderation. However, there are a few potential drawbacks to consider. Risk of bleeding There's some indication that omega-3 supplements may enhance the effects of anti-blood clotting medications, herbs and supplements. When taken together, it may increase your risk of bleeding or reduce your ability to stop bleeding. Other potential drug interactions More research is needed as to how fish oil supplements interact with other drugs and dietary supplements. In particular, there may be adverse interactions between omega-3 supplements and drugs taken for blood pressure, birth control and weight loss. General side effects Some users of omega-3 supplements have noted general discomfort associated with them. This may include heartburn, nausea and diarrhea. Other side effects of omega-3 supplements that some have noted include fishy aftertaste and bad breath, along with rashes in some cases. Those with seafood allergies should also consult their physicians before taking fish oil supplements. Should you take omega-3 supplements? Peter Dazeley/TheOmega-3s are essential for cell growth and overall health, and it's critical to include them in your normal dietary intake. Ideally, it's best to do this through sources such as fish, walnuts, flaxseed oil and other foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. However, if you can't include these foods in your diet, omega-3 supplements are a relatively safe alternative. It's easy to find supplements that are packed with a balanced serving of all three major omega-3s, and they're relatively inexpensive. Keep in mind, though, that these should be taken in moderation and in consultation with your doctor. Some omega-3 supplements may interact with other drugs or supplements you're taking, and you may experience other side effects. Although more research is needed to fully discover all the benefits of omega-3s, one thing is clear: They're an important part of any balanced diet.
Medscape
4 days ago
- Medscape
Diabetes Plus Asthma Equals Greater Metabolic Risk
People with both diabetes and asthma appear to face greater metabolic risks than those with either condition alone, according to new observational data. In a study of more than 18,000 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during 2001-2020, individuals with both asthma and diabetes (most presumed to have type 2 diabetes) had significantly greater impairments in glucose regulation, insulin sensitivity, and lipid metabolism compared with those who had only one condition alone or neither. Inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) were also elevated in the comorbid group, 'supporting a hypothesis of a shared inflammatory mechanism,' Sixtus Aguree, PhD, assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, and colleagues wrote in a poster presented at NUTRITION 2025, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. The findings 'emphasize the need for integrated clinical strategies that simultaneously target both inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in patients with asthma-diabetes comorbidity,' the authors wrote. 'Routine screening for insulin resistance and inflammatory markers in [these] patients may aid in early intervention and risk reduction.' This points to the need for integrated clinical care, Aguree told Medscape Medical News . 'For managing these comorbid conditions, healthcare professionals need to work together. I think that's a better way to treat the person than working in silos.' Bidirectional Relationship Commenting on the findings, Tianshi David Wu, MD, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told Medscape Medical News that these findings align with current evidence. 'Diabetes and asthma have a bidirectional relationship,' Wu explained. 'Population studies have shown that patients with diabetes are at higher risk of developing asthma later on, and vice versa. What's still unknown are the mechanisms that explain this finding.' Wu added that the researchers had put forth a reasonable hypothesis — that systemic inflammation may play a key role in this association. 'The best way to prove this would be with a trial that specifically targets the type of inflammation you think is driving both asthma and diabetes to see how it affects these conditions.' As a possible blueprint, he pointed to cardiology, where patients with heart failure and diabetes are preferentially treated with sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, which are effective at treating both conditions. 'In the asthma world, I don't think the evidence is there yet to recommend any specific diabetes medication, but there is plenty of real-world data suggesting some benefit, and there are two clinical trials ongoing testing semaglutide and metformin to see if they can improve asthma,' Wu said. Surprising Impact on Insulin Resistance The study included 18,370 nationally representative US adults. Among them, 8.2% had diabetes without asthma, 7.4% had asthma without diabetes, 83.3% had neither (controls), and 1.2% had both. BMI was highest in the combined asthma-diabetes group (35.9 kg/m2 vs. 28.2 kg/m2 in controls, P < .001), as was waist circumference (117.6 cm vs. 97.3 cm, P < .001). Insulin resistance, defined as a homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) > 2.5, was present in 41% of controls, 46.8% with asthma only, 77.3% with diabetes only, and 85.6% with both conditions. The HOMA-IR score in the asthma-diabetes group was significantly higher than in controls (9.85 vs. 2.96, P < .001). Logistic regression analysis confirmed that the odds of insulin resistance were nearly eight times higher in the asthma-diabetes group than in the control group (odds ratio [OR], 7.89, P < .001), even after adjusting for BMI, sex, and medication use. 'We didn't expect insulin resistance to be that much higher in the combination of asthma and diabetes. That shocked us,' Aguree said. Asthma alone was not significantly associated with insulin resistance (OR, 0.76, P = .220), 'underscoring the additive impact of coexisting diabetes,' the authors wrote in their poster. Additional Metabolic Outcomes Absolute values of LDL cholesterol were 115.9 mg/dL and 114.5 mg/dL, respectively, for controls and asthma only, vs 98.9 mg/dL and 104.8 mg/dL for diabetes only and asthma-diabetes groups, respectively. The lower value in those with diabetes is likely due to greater use of statins, Aguree noted. In contrast, compared with controls, those in the asthma-diabetes group had significantly lower levels of HDL cholesterol, while triglycerides and the triglyceride/HDL ratio were higher ( P < .001 for all). Systolic blood pressure was also significantly higher in the comorbid group ( P < .001), as was diastolic blood pressure, although to a lesser extent ( P = .012). A1c levels were 5.41% in controls and 5.46% in the asthma-only group, both significantly lower than levels in the diabetes group (7.34%) and the comorbid group (7.11%), Aguree said. Log-CRP values were 0.530 units higher in the asthma-diabetes group than in controls ( P < .001), as were hs-CRP (1.70 mg/L vs 0.60 mg/L, P < .001). Aguree and colleagues are now expanding their analysis to include longitudinal data and evaluate integrated interventions, such as combined anti-inflammatory and glucose-lowering medications, as a means of reducing the burden of both conditions. Aguree had no disclosures. Wu declared receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Lung Association.
