The Seafood That Can Reverse Aging?

Do you like seafood? If not, this one simply may not be for you.

If you are vegetarian or vegan, you might prefer seafood options, which won’t give the specific benefits we’ll talk about today, but does give other options: A Deeper Dive Into Seaweed

And for that matter, whether you’re omnivorous, pescetarian, vegetarian, vegan, or something else, it’s worth knowing about: Omega-3s: Different Sources, Different Benefits?

Now, that said, what’s this about the seafood that’s being investigated for its putative anti-aging effects?

Meet the humble sea squirt

This is about the sea squirt, which you might find in a sushi-restaurant’s menu as hoya, or ホヤ,

Specifically, their compounds called plasmalogens, found in high levels in edible sea squirts, were tested as a potential anti-aging intervention. This is because plasmalogen levels naturally decline with age and are particularly important in the brain, heart, and immune cells.

Indeed, lower levels of plasmalogens have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and more:

• Functions of plasmalogen lipids in health and disease
• Plasmalogens Eliminate Aging-Associated Synaptic Defects
• Decreased phosphatidylcholine plasmalogens – A putative novel lipid signature in patients with stable coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction

So, researchers (Dr. Yuru Deng et al.) wanted to check very specifically what it does on a physiological level, so they did a series of mouse studies, and, found:

• Improved memory and learning: aged mice given plasmalogen supplements performed substantially better on the Morris water maze, reaching the hidden platform faster and performing more like younger mice.
• Increased, healthier brain connections: the treated mice had more synapses, with healthier-looking connections between nerve cells. Plasmalogens also increased molecules involved in neuron and synapse growth, suggesting they may support neuroregeneration and neural plasticity.
• Less brain inflammation & neurodegeneration: plasmalogen supplementation significantly reduced inflammation in the brains of the aged mice, which may help preserve communication between nerve cells and support cognitive function.
• Thicker, darker hair: the aged mice receiving plasmalogens also grew new black hair that was thicker and glossier than that of untreated aged mice, suggesting effects beyond the brain.

You might be thinking: “one of these things is not like the others”, and perhaps even wondering why Dr. Deng and her team tested a whole bunch of brain health things, and then hair health.

The answer is simply that the researchers did not set out to look at anything other than brain health and cognitive function. That’s why we don’t see anything here about physical function, for example.

However, “thicker darker hair”? That’s just an extra difference they noticed, and a thing about research scientists is they do love to make observations and write them down.

To read their paper in all its glory, you can find it here in full: Plasmalogens Eliminate Aging-Associated Synaptic Defects and Microglia-Mediated Neuroinflammation in Mice

What if I’m not a mouse? Will it still work for me?

The previous research that we cited shows a clear association between a decline in plasmalogens and an increase in certain diseases.

So, that suggests that boosting plasmalogen levels may help. However, correlation does not necessarily mean causation, and most of the human studies so far have not yet been RCTs and thus cannot prove causality.

Why do we say“most”?

Well, there has been some research that has tackled this angle, such as this RCT, that found:

❝ In cognitively healthy middle-aged and older adults with below-average verbal memory, 12 weeks of scallop-derived plasmalogen supplementation was associated with improved verbal memory compared with placebo. Exploratory analyses also suggested potential improvements in selected attention-related cognitive domains.❞

You can read it in full, here: Orally administered scallop-derived plasmalogens improve cognitive function in healthy middle-aged and older adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

For those who don’t want to read it in full, you might want to at least be aware of the bit that says:

❝Conflict of interest statement:

Yasuhiro Sasuga was an executive officer and shareholder of B&S Corporation Co., Ltd.
Masafumi Nagata was employed by B&S Corporation Co., Ltd.
Mizuho Tanaka was employed by ORTHOMEDICO Inc.

The remaining author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.❞

The “remaining author(s)”, by the way, would be Dr. Mina Fukuchi, the only other listed author.

Now, there being a potential conflict of interest doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything untoward going on. After all, a clinical researcher being paid be a clinical research company to do clinical research doesn’t necessarily mean they are any more corrupt than, for example, that this health science writer (hi, it’s me) being paid by a health science publication (10almonds) to write about health science for you.

That’s kinda how work gets done; the people doing the work need to get a paycheck from somewhere (this writer can’t buy groceries with nothing but her good looks, and it’s possible that even Dr. Fukuchi can’t, either, though we wouldn’t presume to speak for her in that regard).

But it does mean that you should always pay attention to sources!

Prefer to try a supplement?

If sushi isn’t on your menu but you don’t mind animal-derived ingredients, then supplements are an option.

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Take care!