summary: A diet rich in vitamins and minerals and low in added sugars may promote a younger biological age, according to a new study. Researchers found that a healthy diet correlated with a rejuvenated epigenetic clock, even when taking into account one gram of added sugar. The study is one of the first to show this relationship in a diverse group of middle-aged women. The findings highlight the importance of reducing sugar intake for better health and longevity.
Key Facts:
- A healthy diet low in added sugars can help reverse your biological age.
- Every gram of added sugar accelerates epigenetic aging.
- The study included a diverse group of middle-aged women, highlighting broader implications.
sauce: University of California, San Francisco
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have found a link between a diet rich in vitamins and minerals, particularly one low in added sugar, and reduced biological age at the cellular level.
The researchers looked at how three different measures of healthy eating affected the “epigenetic clock” — a biochemical test that can estimate both health and longevity — and found that people who ate better had younger looking cells. Even those who ate a healthy diet increased their epigenetic age with every gram of added sugar they consumed.
“The diets we looked at are consistent with existing recommendations for disease prevention and health promotion, particularly emphasizing the benefits of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients,” said Dorothy Chiu, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and lead author of the study, which will be published July 29. JAMA Network Open.
“From a lifestyle medicine perspective, it’s powerful to know that by following these recommendations, we may be able to reverse our cellular age relative to our chronological age.”
This study is one of the first to show a link between added sugars and epigenetic aging, and it is also the first to examine this association in a diverse group of midlife black and white women. Most research on this topic has focused on older white participants.
The research helps improve understanding of why sugar is so harmful to health, added Elissa Epel, PhD, professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and co-senior author of the study.
“We knew that high levels of added sugars, perhaps more than any other dietary factor, are linked to poor metabolic health and early disease,” Epel says. “We now know that accelerated epigenetic aging underlies this relationship, and this is likely one of many ways that excessive sugar intake limits healthy lifespan.”
The women surveyed reported consuming an average of 61.5 grams of added sugars per day, although the range of intake was wide, from 2.7 to 316 grams per day. One bar of milk chocolate contains about 25 grams of added sugars, and a 12-ounce can of cola contains about 39 grams of added sugars.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that adults consume no more than 50 grams of added sugars per day.
Nutrition-Based Approach
For the cross-sectional study, the researchers analyzed the food records of 342 black and white women in Northern California with an average age of 39. They then compared their diets with measurements of the epigenetic clock obtained from saliva samples.
The researchers scored the women’s diets to compare them with a Mediterranean diet rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods, and also to diets associated with a lower risk of chronic disease.
Finally, the team scored the women’s diets against a measure they developed called the Epigenetic Nutrition Index (ENI), which is based on nutrients (not foods) associated with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and DNA maintenance and repair. These include vitamins A, C, B12, E, folate, selenium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and isoflavones.
Adherence to any diet was significantly associated with lower epigenetic age, with the strongest association being with the Mediterranean diet.
The researchers looked at sugar intake separately and found that consuming foods with added sugar accelerates biological aging, even in those who eat a healthy diet.
“Because epigenetic patterns appear to be reversible, eliminating 10 grams of added sugars per day, if maintained over the long term, may be akin to turning back one’s biological clock by 2.4 months,” said co-senior author Barbara Laraia, PhD, professor in the Food, Nutrition and Population Health Program at UC Berkeley.
“Focusing on foods rich in key nutrients and low in added sugars may be a new way to motivate people to eat healthier for longer life.”
Funding: the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD073568), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R56HL141878), the National Institute on Aging (R56AG059677 and R01AG059677]the Lisa Stone Pritzker Foundation, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (T32AT0039970).
Research news on aging and diet
author: Jess Berthold
sauce: University of California, San Francisco
contact: Jess Berthold – UCSF
image: Image courtesy of Neuroscience News
Original Research: The survey results are JAMA Network Open
