A new study led by researchers in the United States has found that Vitamin D supplements might be a veritable Fountain of Youth, capable of slowing down a person’s biological ageing.

Findings of the study are published in the ‘American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’. People taking daily vitamin D3 experienced less wear-and-tear on their telomeres, the protective caps of DNA code at the ends of chromosomes.

Likened to the caps at the ends of shoelaces, telomeres degrade as people get older and are used by researchers as a sign of biological age — the actual amount of ageing a person has undergone, as opposed to their age based on their birthday.

The study “is the first large-scale and long-term randomised trial to show that vitamin D supplements protect telomeres and preserve telomere length,” researcher Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said.

However, researchers warn not to stock up on vitamin D tablets just yet, as the positive benefits need to be verified in other studies.

“We think these findings are promising and warrant further study, but we think that the replication will be important before changing the general guidelines for vitamin D intake,” Manson said.