Although chronological age advances uniformly for everyone, biological age can differ based on factors such as genetics, the air we breathe, and the food we consume.
Diet stands out as one modifiable element linked to resilience against aging. It has the potential to influence inflammatory processes, metabolism, the cardiovascular system, and other bodily systems that typically undergo changes with advancing age.
These beneficial outcomes might lead to the appearance of being younger at a cellular level than one’s actual age suggests.
According to recent research, nutritious eating can confer these advantages even when an individual’s chronological age is already quite advanced. While starting early in life is ideal, the findings indicate that changes to dietary habits later in life remain an effective route for quickly improving age-related biomarkers. The study’s results were showcased in the journal Aging Cell.
“It is premature to state with certainty that specific dietary shifts will extend your lifespan,” cautions Caitlin Andrews from the University of Sydney in Australia, a co-author of the study. “Nevertheless, this investigation offers an early glimpse into the prospective merits of altering one’s diet at a later stage in life.”
Andrews and her team leveraged data from the “Nutrition for Healthy Living” (NHL) trial, a randomized controlled clinical investigation that examined the impact of protein sources in the diet alongside particular macronutrients on the health of older adults.
For the study of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, investigators enrolled individuals aged 65 to 75, whose Body Mass Index fell between 20 and 35. These participants were then randomly assigned to one of four dietary tracks for a four-week duration, with all study subjects being provided with their meals.
In every diet group, 14 percent of energy intake originated from protein. Two diets were omnivorous (protein evenly split between animal and plant sources), while two were semi-vegetarian (where 70 percent of protein was plant-derived).
Within both the omnivorous and semi-vegetarian groups, participants also received an additional dietary variable on top of their protein intake: either a high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimen or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate regimen.
This arrangement resulted in four distinct dietary profiles: Omnivorous High-Fat (OHF), Omnivorous High-Carb (OHC), Vegetarian High-Fat (VHF), and Vegetarian High-Carb (VHC).
Scientists are able to ascertain an individual’s biological age by examining biomarker profiles—indicators of physiological function that can reveal more about one’s health and potential longevity than simply the duration elapsed since birth.
The researchers at the University of Sydney analyzed the NHL data to ascertain if modifications to diet among older adults could influence biological age, which they estimated using the Klemera-Doubal method.
This novel study utilized data from 20 biomarkers, including blood pressure measurements along with circulating levels of insulin, cholesterol, and C-reactive protein, to determine the participants’ biological ages.
Of the four diet categories, the High-Fat Omnivorous (OHF) diet exhibited the greatest similarity to the typical baseline diets that participants reported consuming prior to the trial, the researchers observed. This similarity may account for why it produced the least effect on their biological ages, showing no significant shifts in the relevant biomarkers.
However, the other three dietary regimens appeared effective in reducing the biological age of the subjects.
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