By Liam Pritchett
3 Minutes Read
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A team of scientists has managed to reverse biological age in older adults using diet.
According to a new study, participants who reduced their fat intake or increased their intake of plant-based carbohydrates showed improvements in key health biomarkers associated with aging after just four weeks on an altered diet.
Read more: Plant-Based Diets May Reduce The Risk Of Alzheimer’s And Dementia
While chronological age measures how many years a person has lived, biological age summarizes how the body is actually aging. By using biomarkers such as cholesterol, insulin, and C-reactive protein levels, scientists can get a fairly accurate picture of someone’s biological age. Compared to chronological age, biological age is hugely variable and can therefore be a more reliable measure of health.
In this study, researchers used data from 20 biomarkers to calculate the 104 participants’ biological age scores. As reported by ScienceDaily, the participants were randomly assigned one of four diets. These included two omnivorous and two semi-vegetarian diets, the latter of which included 70 percent plant-based protein.
Within these categories, the participants were also assigned either a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. The participants, all of whom were aged between 65 and 75, followed their respective diets for just four weeks, and the researchers assessed whether their biological ages had changed in that time.
The researchers found that all but the omnivorous high-fat group showed reductions in biological age, and that the omnivorous high-carb group, which got 53 percent of its protein from carbohydrates, showed the most notable reduction in biological age.
The study’s results highlight the significant potential of dietary interventions in improving health and aging outcomes. The authors have called for longer-term trials to test whether their findings translate into reduced health risk and to test whether they apply to other age groups.
Read more: Soy And Legumes Could Lower Hypertension Risk, Finds Study
Caitlin Andrews of the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and School of Life and Environmental Sciences led the new study, which was published by Ageing Cell at the end of April. Andrews said, “Longer-term dietary changes are needed to assess whether dietary changes alter the risk of age-related diseases.”
“It’s too soon to say definitively that specific changes to diet will extend your life. But this research offers an early indication of the potential benefits of dietary changes later in life,” Andrews added. “Future research should explore whether these findings extend to other cohorts and whether the changes recorded are sustained or predictive of long-term outcomes.”
A separate study recently found that eating a healthy plant-based diet is associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, including for older people.
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Liam writes about the environment, sustainability, and animal welfare. They have freelanced for Plant Based News since 2022 and worked in vegan digital media since 2019. Liam has also worked as an assistant editor for a B2B magazine, a staff writer, a researcher, and countless other things. They studied English Literature and Film at the University Of East Anglia, where they were introduced to animal rights. They live in Norwich, UK, with a notoriously stubborn rescue dog.
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