Krill oil may support healthy aging, says recent study

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Jacob Wackerhausen

A recent study published in the journal Aging¹ found that krill oil may have neuroprotective qualities that slow down hallmarks of aging.

“There is no question that we need more science to understand how we can impact and improve the life quality of an aging population,” said Line Johnsen, vice president, science and innovation, for Aker BioMarine, in a press release. “We have invested in a new study that looks at how krill oil can influence many underlying mechanisms that contribute to aging.”

In the study, researchers used a Caenorhabditis elegans model of Parkinson’s disease which found that krill oil provided by Aker BioMarine protected dopaminergic neurons from aging-related degeneration, decreased alpha-synuclein aggregation, and improved dopamine-dependent behavior and cognition. According to the researchers, “Krill oil rewires distinct gene expression programs that contribute to attenuating several aging hallmarks, including oxidative stress, proteotoxic stress, senescence, genomic instability, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Mechanistically, krill oil increases neuronal resilience through temporal transcriptome rewiring to promote anti-oxidative stress and anti-inflammation via healthspan regulating transcription factors such as SNK-1.”

Reference

SenGupta T et al. “Krill oil protects dopaminergic neurons from age-related degeneration through temporal transcriptome rewiring and suppression of several hallmarks of aging.” Aging, vol. 9, no. 21 (2022): 8661-8687, https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.204375