Eight weeks of a vegan diet could turn back our biological clocks, new research has suggested.
Each of us has two different ages: our chronological age and our biological age. Chronological age describes how long you’ve been alive and, until we devise time travel technology, it’s irreversible.
Biological age, meanwhile, describes the gradual decline in the efficiency and functionality of our body’s cells. And, unlike chronological age, it can be reversed.
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To date, there is no single gold standard for quantifying this biological aging, but one method that has shown promise involves monitoring molecular tags on the surface of our DNA.
These tags, called DNA methylation, can be affected by a range of environmental factors, including exercise, stress and our diet.
In a new study, published in the journal BMC medicineresearchers from Stanford University and the biological analysis company TruDiagnostic recruited 21 pairs of adult identical twins to investigate the effect of eight weeks on a vegan diet on these DNA methylation patterns.
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Over the course of the study, one pair of each pair ate an entirely plant-based diet while the other pair followed an overall healthy eating plan. And by the end of the study, the twins who stuck to the vegan diet saw a significant reduction in markers of overall biological aging, as well as specific age-related markers in the heart, liver, hormones, inflammatory and metabolic systems.
“Distinct responses were observed, and the vegan cohort showed significant reductions in overall epigenetic age acceleration, aligning with the anti-aging effects of plant-based diets,” the authors wrote in their study.
The nature of the study means that we cannot be sure which aspects of the vegan diets were beneficial to the epigenetic clock subjects, although more targeted research may reveal this in the future.
That said, the team has some nutritional advice for those looking to age more healthily.
“From the current understanding of the nutrients that support our epigenome, an omnivorous plant-centric diet that incorporates beneficial plant chemicals alongside critical nutrients such as B12 and choline from animal sources offers the best potential for a healthy, longer life promotion,” paper author and Stanford epigeneticist Lucia Aronica told News Week.
According to Aronica, some past studies have also suggested that protein intake—especially from animal sources—is beneficial for older adults.
However, she said, “many diets can improve our epigenetic health, provided that the focus is on whole foods, variety, and that they are personalized to our individual needs.”
It is also unclear whether the anti-aging effect of the vegan diets was after the participants returned to their normal eating habits.
“This is really something that needs to be tested,” said paper author and bioinformatician Varun Dwaraka of TruDiagnostic News Week.
“It is likely that their biological age would increase if they were eating a diet closer to what was normal, because the epigenetic programming could return to its original state.”
It is worth noting that these results were based on a very small sample. In addition, due to the differences in the calorie content between plant-based and omnivorous diets, the people in the first place lost an average of 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds) more than their colleagues. Therefore, the differences in biological age at the end of the study could be due to these differences in weight loss.
Furthermore, Professor Tom Sanders – a nutrition and dietetics researcher at King’s College London, England, who was not involved in this study – noted that the anti-aging benefits of vegan diets must be weighed against the risks. micronutrient deficiencies, which may exist. years for adverse effects to play out.
He explained: “For example, if vitamin B12 is not added to a vegan diet, they develop vitamin B12 deficiency which causes chronic and often insidious damage to the nervous system.
“Long-term observational studies of vegans also show adverse effects on bone density, which is likely due to very low calcium intake and insufficient protein intake.
“Although observational studies show that vegan diets may have beneficial effects on health in middle age (such as a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes), this is not the case in older vegans who appear they are more likely to suffer muscle loss, low bone density and neurological disorders that have a significant impact on quality of life.
“In fact, life expectancy in vegans does not differ compared to those who choose mixed diets.”
Follow-up studies, the researchers noted, could shed more light on these complex interactions.
They wrote: “Future research using well-controlled long-term study designs will further emphasize the complex relationships between diet, epigenetics, and health outcomes such as weight loss, emphasizing the importance of nutritional supplementation appropriate in vegan diets.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in search of common ground.