Fatty15 strengthens our cells to protect against a new cellular enemy: ferroptosis

During 2012, an alarming discovery was made by a team of scientists at Columbia University. They found that our cells are being weakened and harmed in an entirely new way, a process they called ferroptosis (pronounced fair-op-toh-sis). 

Since this initial discovery, over 10,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers have studied ferroptosis. Really. More than ten thousand studies. On the less-good-news side, it has become clear that ferroptosis is negatively affecting our long-term metabolic, liver, and heart health.

The good news is that our humble fatty15, a pure C15:0 supplement developed by our team of scientists and doctors, has been proven to directly strengthen cells and protect them from the key components of ferroptosis.

So, let’s dive into this discovery that our cells are getting increasingly weaker and, more importantly, how replenishing our C15:0 levels with fatty15 can help strengthen your cells and protect your long-term health.

Okay, what do you mean by weaker cells?

Just about every part of our body is made from cells. If our cells are healthy, we are healthy. 

Our cells are protected by a double-layer of fat called our cell membrane. Here’s the thing. The strength of our cell membranes are directly determined by the strength of the fats they contain.

• Polyunsaturated fatty acids are fragile fats. These fatty acids have multiple double bonds which are weak points that are easily attacked by oxygen. The result is harmful lipid peroxidation.
• Saturated fatty acids and strong fats. These fatty acids have no double bonds and therefore are highly resistant to lipid peroxidation. 

It’s all pretty simple. If our cell membranes have too many weak fatty acids and not enough strong ones, they undergo lipid peroxidation, and our cell membranes fall apart. 

Got it. But what do weaker cell membranes have to do with ferroptosis?

When the team from Columbia University looked under the microscope, they found that cells affected by ferroptosis have a distinct calling card, which includes: 1) unusual looking cell membranes, 2) knocked-out mitochondria, and 3) unwanted iron bodies inside the cells.

Here’s how ferroptosis goes down:

• First, it all starts by having a cell membrane that has too many fragile fatty acids. This results in lipid peroxidation and weakened cells. 
• Then, fragile red blood cells are taken up by our liver cells, resulting in abnormal iron deposits that are then distributed to cells throughout our body. 
• When lipid peroxidation is combined with unwanted intracellular iron, this results in massive production of damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS). 
• Finally, our cellular powerhouses (those mitochondria) shut down. When there’s no more power, our cells stop functioning.

Ferroptosis negatively impacts our metabolic, heart, and liver cellular function, which affects our long-term health. What hasn’t been clear is what causes ferroptosis, and why did it suddenly show up?

C15:0 may be the missing link.

Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson, fatty15’s co-founder, was caring for older Navy dolphins when she discovered that some individuals were aging healthier than others. In fact, the same year that the Columbia University folks introduced the world to ferroptosis, Steph and team published a paper during 2012 on abnormal cellular iron handling that was affecting liver health in some dolphins. Something that looked a lot like, well, ferroptosis.

After years of studying why some dolphins had these ferroptosis-like changes, Steph and her team found an important clue: dolphins with higher C15:0 levels appeared to be protected against these cellular changes. Another three years and eight studies later, Steph moved C15:0 to the lab and showed that pure C15:0 met the rare criteria of being an essential fatty acid - and stopped all of the key components of ferroptosis.

Great! Wait, what is C15:0?

Now is probably a good time to talk about C15:0, which is the first essential fatty acid to be discovered since omega-3, which was over 90 years ago. So, that’s kind of a big deal.

As an essential fatty acid, C15:0 does a lot to protect our cellular (and overall) health. One of C15:0’s core benefits? It’s a great cell membrane strengthener. You see, C15:0 is a particularly sturdy fatty acid that is highly resistant to lipid peroxidation. 

In turn, the many benefits of C15:0 explain why people with higher C15:0 levels have better metabolic, liver, and heart health.

C15:0 (also called pentadecanoic acid) is an odd-chain saturated fatty acid, and our primary dietary source of C15:0 is whole dairy fat. As we have moved away from eating and drinking whole fat dairy products, population-wide C15:0 levels have been declining.

Mounting studies support that nutritional C15:0 deficiencies may be contributing to declining health globally. It ends up, this may be happening because our cell membranes need adequate levels of C15:0 to protect our cells from ferroptosis.

Fatty15 to the rescue.

To understand how C15:0 protects our cellular health, Steph led a series of studies using pure, free fatty acid C15:0. In addition to a bunch of other benefits, peer-reviewed studies have shown that the pure C15:0 ingredient in fatty15 effectively goes after the key components of ferroptosis. 

Demonstrated benefits of the pure C15:0 ingredient in fatty15 include the following:

• Strengthens cell membranes by 80%
• Lowers lipid peroxidation by 40%
• Lowers intracellular iron deposits by 64%
• Reduces reactive oxygen species by 50%

Combined, these impressive and essential benefits are why we brought fatty15 to the world. Fatty15 is the world’s first and only award-winning and science-backed pure C15:0 supplement…and a powerful ferroptosis-fighting ally.

What’s the definition of low C15:0 levels? And can I get my C15:0 levels tested?

Multiple studies support that we need at least 5 µg/ml (or 20 µM) of C15:0 to protect our long-term health. In some tests, this amount coincides with about 0.2% of C15:0 among total fatty acids. 

Yes, your doctor can order a test to measure your C15:0 levels. One available test is the Nutritional Test - Fatty Acids from Genova Diagnostics.

How much pure C15:0 do I need to reach optimal C15:0 levels?

Here are some helpful tips to help achieve your optimal C15:0 levels with fatty15.

• Most people have at least 10 µM of circulating C15:0.
• Every 100 mg of fatty15’s pure C15:0 ingredient increases most people’s C15:0 levels by 10 µM, resulting in the minimal target of 20 µM of circulating C15:0.
• Routine, daily C15:0 is needed to achieve and maintain optimal C15:0 levels.

So, how is fatty15 my #1 cell strengthener?

Here’s how fatty15 got to that #1 spot.

Let’s start with why other fatty acid supplements falter:

• Supplements containing unsaturated fatty acids (including omega-3s) can actually make our cell membranes weaker and more susceptible to lipid peroxidation.So, these go to the bottom of the list.
• Supplements containing high amounts of even-chain saturated fatty acids (such as C14:0, C16:0, and C18:0) can stabilize cells, but these are pro-inflammatory fats that induce unwanted inflammation and increase the risk of metabolic, liver and heart conditions. As a result, these go to the middle of the list.
• Among fellow odd-chain saturated fatty acids (like C17:0), only C15:0 meets the requirements of an essential fatty acid. Further, C15:0 has the most demonstrated health-protecting benefits. That puts C15:0 at the top.

Why fatty15 succeeds:

It’s pretty simple. We developed fatty15 to provide the optimal way to strengthen your cells by using just one ingredient: pure and proven C15:0, your #1 cell strengthener.

But why fatty15? Shouldn’t we just go back to drinking whole fat cow’s milk to get our C15:0?

While dairy fat contains only 1% of C15:0, it has more than 40% pro-inflammatory even-chain saturated fats (including C16:0 and C18:0). Studies have shown that, while pure C15:0 provides direct metabolic and liver benefits, both dairy fat and even-chain saturated fatty acids can impair metabolic and liver health.

Our team of doctors and scientists developed fatty15 to provide just pure, bioavailable, and vegan-friendly C15:0, no cows or calories needed. 

The take home message.

In summary, a new form of cell weakness has been discovered, and it’s called ferroptosis. Ferroptosis occurs when fragile fats in our cell membranes undergo lipid peroxidation, which combines with iron. Together, these instigators attack our mitochondria and cause massive production of dangerous reactive oxygen species (ROS) that hurt our cells.