Vitamin and Mineral Rich Diets Could Aid Younger Biological Age

New study findings, published in JAMA Network Open, from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found a connection in consuming a diet that is high in vitamins and low in added sugar with a younger biological age, expressed as the epigenetic clock.¹ The study authors noted that epigenetics is a biological mechanism where gene expression is modified as the DNA sequences remain the same—also defined as DNA methylation.²

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Changes in DNA methylation is associated with aging, environmental exposures, and disease pathophysiology, and diet could aid the prevention of these processes, according to study authors.³ Nutrients, food components and vitamins, like B6 and B12 are able to adjust DNA methylation patterns that impact health and aging.²

Researchers from UCSF assessed how different healthy eating habits impact the epigenetic clock in a cross-sectional study that included food records from 342 Black and White women from Northern California, with a mean age of 39 years.¹

“The diets we examined align with existing recommendations for preventing disease and promoting health, and they highlight the potency of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients in particular,” said Dorothy Chiu, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and first author of the study, in a news release. “From a lifestyle medicine standpoint, it is empowering to see how heeding these recommendations may promote a younger cellular age relative to chronological age.”¹

The study authors noted that they scored the women's diets in comparison to a Mediterranean-style diet that includes anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods and with a diet that is connected to lower risk for chronic disease. Following, the researchers used the Epigenetic Nutrient Index (ENI) to measure the women’s diet. The measure was used to score nutrients like Vitamins A, C, B12 and E, folate, selenium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and isoflavones as well as its relation to DNA maintenance.¹

The results displayed that following healthy, vitamin rich diets were connected to a lower epigenetic age and individuals that followed the Mediterranean diet had the greatest association, according to study authors.¹

In a separate study including the same individuals, the researchers assessed the connection of sugar intake with epigenetic age, despite following a healthy diet. The women reported to eat a range of 2.7 to 316 grams of added sugar per day, with an average of 61.5 grams per day. However, the FDA previously recommended individuals to consume no more than 50 grams of sugar per day.¹

The results revealed that eating foods with added sugar related to quicker biological aging, even when following a healthy diet.¹

“We knew that high levels of added sugars are linked to worsened metabolic health and early disease, possibly more than any other dietary factor,” said Elissa Epel, PhD, a UCSF professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciencesn and study co-senior author, in a news release. “Now we know that accelerated epigenetic aging is underlying this relationship, and this is likely one of many ways that excessive sugar intake limits healthy longevity.”¹

The findings suggest that the healthier individuals ate, the younger their cells appeared, and each gram of added sugar consumed caused an increase in epigenetic age, according to study authors.¹

“Given that epigenetic patterns appear to be reversible, it may be that eliminating 10 grams of added sugar per day is akin to turning back the biological clock by 2.4 months, if sustained over time,” said Barbara Laraia, PhD, RD, a UC Berkeley professor in the Food, Nutrition and Population Health program and co-senior author, in a news release. “Focusing on foods that are high in key nutrients and low in added sugars may be a new way to help motivate people to eat well for longevity.”¹

References

1. Healthy diet with less sugar is linked to younger biological age. EurekAlert!. News release. July 29, 2024. Accessed August 7, 2024. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1052631

2. Sae-Lee C, Corsi S, Barrow TM, et al. Dietary Intervention Modifies DNA Methylation Age Assessed by the Epigenetic Clock. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2018;62(23):e1800092. doi:10.1002/mnfr.201800092