Nutrition & Diet New essential nutrient identified

[Graeme M]

Well, this is a bit disturbing. I wonder if anyone else knows more on this topic?

I've spent a couple of hour digging into it and it seems legit. Research in the past few years suggests that pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) is likely to be an essential nutrient for human beings, being deeply implicated in longevity, prevention of diabetes and fatty liver syndrome etc. It also has recently been implicated in a new form of cell death resulting from fragile cell membranes interacting with iron homeostasis, both featuring in such diseases as metabolic syndrome.

Long story short, low levels of C15 can lead to cellular instability and may be a causal factor in a range of modern syndromes and disease.

Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0), an Essential Fatty Acid, Shares Clinically Relevant Cell-Based Activities with Leading Longevity-Enhancing Compounds

Pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) is an essential odd-chain saturated fatty acid with broad activities relevant to protecting cardiometabolic, immune, and liver health. C15:0 activates AMPK and inhibits mTOR, both of which are core components of the human longevity ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This is important for vegans because there is pretty much no C15 in most plant foods (or at least, so far I've not found any evidence there is a lot in plant foods, but I have read suggestions that leafy greens may be fair sources). C15 is found mainly in dairy and meat, though for most Westerners this can be a problem because those sources are also high in saturated fats.

The Cellular Stability Hypothesis: Evidence of Ferroptosis and Accelerated Aging-Associated Diseases as Newly Identified Nutritional Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0) Deficiency Syndrome

Ferroptosis is a newly discovered form of cell death caused by the peroxidation of fragile fatty acids in cell membranes, which combines with iron to increase reactive oxygen species and disable mitochondria. Ferroptosis has been linked to aging-related conditions, including type 2 diabetes...

www.mdpi.com

Anyways, there seems to be a growing concensus that C15 is an essential fatty acid and that modern Western populations may be at increased risk of disease from low circulating C15 levels. Some research suggests that C15 on its own may be a suitable option, becauae then it's not included in the whole food matrix that also contains high levels of sat fat. Apparently there are now C15 supplements available, including vegan options such as Fatty15.

C15:0 unveiled as essential fatty acid “we didn’t realize we were missing”

08 Jan 2021 --- US-based Seraphina Therapeutics has launched fatty15, a supplement touted as “the first and only” one to contain the pure fatty acid C15:0.C15:0, or pentadecanoic acid, is positioned as the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in the past 90 years, backed by a growing body...

www.nutritioninsight.com

Interestingly, the diet of Sardinians may be an example of the benefits of higher dairy consumption and hence greater intake of C15. Though their diet is sometimes unusual and they seem often to be in caloric deficiency, their preference for a mostly plant and dairy based diet may be what makes them especially long-lived.

Sardinian dietary analysis for longevity: a review of the literature - Journal of Ethnic Foods

Sardinia is one of the five Longevity Blue Zones (LBZs) in the world. Compared to other LBZs, the percentage of male centenarians in Sardinia is much higher. Due to the island’s isolation, the genetic traits of Sardinian people have shown that they are direct descendants of their Nuragic...

journalofethnicfoods.biomedcentral.com

What do we do? Is this for real or just a scare story to promote the selling of supplements? Sure looks genuine to me.

 

[Brian W]

Broader and safer clinically-relevant activities of pentadecanoic acid compared to omega-3: Evaluation of an emerging essential fatty acid across twelve primary human cell-based disease systems - PubMed

Pub med is a good source here. It has the conflict of interest statement:

"This work is related to the following patents owned by the United States Navy or Epitracker, Inc.: US10,307,388 B2, US11,116,740, PCTUS2021/046556, and US17/086,198. These patents have been licensed to Seraphina Therapeutics Inc., which has a pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) food ingredient and supplement on the market. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.”

which doesn't, of course, prove that the research is false. Worth reading the whole article. As regards the effect on vegans, vegans throughout history have lived long healthy lives without knowing about this nutrient and statistically live longer than those on other diets, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Lou]

Reminded me of this factoid. Seniors don't synthesize proteins as efficiently so they should increase their intake of protein.

 

[Graeme M]

As regards the effect on vegans, vegans throughout history have lived long healthy lives without knowing about this nutrient and statistically live longer than those on other diets, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Having spent a little more time reading up on this, I am suspicious it's simply a scam. Every paper I find seems connected to this company selling the supplement. I have definitely read before that C15 is a very helpful fatty acid, found primarily in dairy products. And it's very possible that people are getting less of this than they used to, but at the end of the day humans have been consuming dairy for a few thousand years only. And much of the globe not even that long, so it seems unlikely this is an actual biological necessity unless we were getting enough just from eating meat and fish.

I suppose it's possible, that like the calcium homeostasis hypothesis, there has been an adaptation in people who do consume a lot of milk. 6,000 years is probably long enough for that to occur. But I have seen no evidence to support that conclusion.

So... perhaps C15 is a very useful fatty acid for people eating a standard modern diet and helps mitigate the effects of poor nutrition, but I suspect people eating a healthy, mostly plant-based diet are doing just fine. What might be of more interest is the matter of this "ferroptosis" claim, but I think we'll need to wait for more evidence on that.

 

[Lou]

I suppose it's possible, that like the calcium homeostasis hypothesis, there has been an adaptation in people who do consume a lot of milk. 6,000 years is probably long enough for that to occur. But I have seen no evidence to support that conclusion.

I find that question to very interesting. Not sure what the answer is or even if it is evidence one way or another.
Scientists think we only started drinking milk 10,000 years ago and since lactose intolerance is normal, it made most of the humans sick. but having gastric distress is better than starving so in times of famine adults just toughed it out.
Also infants don't have lactose intolerance - so many of them were given cows milk to help them survive. And there may have been a mutation that eliminated the intolerance. So then people with that mutation had an advantage to survive. or perhaps it was just evolution in action - people who were less intolerant survived better and that trait ended up becoming more common.
Regardless , 10,000 years later, about half of all humans have some amount of intolerance. So I think it's safe to conclude that there is nothing essential or necessary in milk. And then using that conclusion as a jumping off point - it's probably safe to assume that C15 is also not necessary or essential.

 

[Graeme M]

Scientists think we only started drinking milk 10,000 years ago and since lactose intolerance is normal, it made most of the humans sick. but having gastric distress is better than starving so in times of famine adults just toughed it out.

The interesting thing is that people only began to domesticate animals at the beginning of the neolithic, about 10,000 years ago, but dairying more generally didn't become more common till a bit later. And the lactase persistance adaptation may not have really become fixed in populations till about 4-6,000 years ago. Before lactase persistance, people tended to consume milk either as fermented or soured milk or as various cheeses, and together with different gut biomes they were probably able to cope with the lactose. There are a few theories about why we adapted to milk so quickly but whatever the reason, it was definitely because it was advantageous at the time. Even if some people died from consuming milk.

So I think it's safe to conclude that there is nothing essential or necessary in milk.

Hmmm... I don't think that's quite true, it's just that the essential nutrients in milk can be had in other ways, which is what I think you are getting at. There *are* essential nutrients in milk, but milk is not essential to get those nutrients?

C15 fatty acid is in many foods in small quantities, and especially in meat, fish and some plants, so I kinda think before dairy we could get enough in our diet anyway. The problem being claimed here, low C15 intakes and consequent ferroptosis, may only be a modern problem because of typical modern diets.

 

[Lou]

The interesting thing is that people only began to domesticate animals at the beginning of the neolithic, about 10,000 years ago, but dairying more generally didn't become more common till a bit later. And the lactase persistance adaptation may not have really become fixed in populations till about 4-6,000 years

A new study has shown milk was used by the first farmers from Central Europe in the early Neolithic era around 7,400 years ago, advancing humans' ability to gain sustenance from milk and establishing the early foundations of the dairy industry.​

Pioneering research directly dates the earliest milk use in prehistoric Europe

A new study has shown milk was used by the first farmers from Central Europe in the early Neolithic era around 7,400 years ago, advancing humans' ability to gain sustenance from milk and establishing the early foundations of the dairy industry.

phys.org

but yeah. back then humans mostly consumed fermented milk products. or as a last ditch food source. and for children.

Human evolution has always been something I find fascinating and this adaption of mutation find especially interesting.

 

[Graeme M]

but yeah. back then humans mostly consumed fermented milk products. or as a last ditch food source. and for children.

Human evolution has always been something I find fascinating and this adaption of mutation find especially interesting.

You might find this one interesting. Of all the possibilities, I actually think this might be a good candidate.

Evolution of Lactase Persistence: Turbo-Charging Adaptation in Growth Under the Selective Pressure of Maternal Mortality?

The emergence of the capacity to digest milk in some populations represents a landmark in human evolution, linking genetic change with a component of niche construction, namely dairying. Alleles promoting continued activity of the enzyme lactase through ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov