Short-term vegan diet associated with reductions in biological age estimates

Following a vegan diet for eight weeks has been shown to reduce estimates of biological age based on levels of DNA methylation, a type of chemical modification of DNA (called an epigenetic modification) that alters gene expression but not the DNA itself.

Previous studies have reported that increased levels of DNA methylation are associated with aging. The new findings, based on a small randomized controlled trial of 21 adult identical twin pairs, Published in BMC Medicine.

Varun Dwaraka, Christopher Gardner and colleagues investigated the molecular effects of a short-term vegan diet by instructing one twin to follow an omnivorous diet containing 170 to 225 grams of meat, one egg, and 1.5 servings of dairy products for eight weeks, while the other twin followed a vegan diet for the same period.

Seventy-seven percent of the sample was female (32), the average age of participants was 40 years old, and the average BMI was 26 kilograms per square meter. For the first four weeks of the study, participants ate prepared meals, and for the second four weeks, after receiving nutrition lessons from a health educator, participants ate self-prepared meals.

The authors investigated this by analysing the effect of diet on DNA methylation levels. Blood samples DNA methylation levels collected from participants at the start of the study, week 4, and week 8 were used to predict their biological age and Organ Systems.

By the end of the study, the authors observed a decline in estimated biological age (known as the epigenetic aging clock) in participants who followed a vegan diet but not in those who followed an omnivorous diet. They also observed a decline in the age of the cardiac, hormonal, liver, inflammatory and metabolic systems in participants who followed a vegan but not an omnivorous diet for eight weeks.

The authors caution that it is unclear whether the differences observed between participants consuming the different diets can be attributed to the composition of the diets. Vegan Diet The difference in calorie content of the meals served during the first four weeks of the study led to participants losing an average of 2 kilograms more weight than those who ate an omnivorous diet.

The researchers suggest that these differences in weight loss may have contributed to the differences in epigenetic age observed between the two groups, and they add that further studies are needed to explore the relationship between dietary composition, weight, and aging, as well as the long-term effects of a vegan diet.