PEOPLE all around the world are obsessed with the idea of eternal youth, with many individuals going as far as undertaking various cosmetic surgery procedures -- some extreme, others less so – to erase wrinkles, fine lines, and other signs of aging.
But a healthy, specially developed diet, combined with lifestyle recommendations, especially in terms of sleep, stress, and physical activity, could also help individuals turn back time by a few years – or, in other words, significantly reduce one's biological age.
This is what recent research by American scientists from the Institute for Functional Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the American Nutrition Association reveals. They sought to determine whether a lifestyle that favors DNA methylation, a biological mechanism that plays a key role in certain aspects of aging, could favorably influence biological age.
A rejuvenating diet
Published in the journal Aging, the researchers' investigation took the form of an eight-week case study in which six women undertook a specific program of eating and lifestyle practices. This included advice on diet, sleep, exercise, relaxation, probiotic and phytonutrient consumption. All of this was accompanied by comprehensive nutritional coaching.
The scientists specify that they analysed DNA methylation and biological age at the beginning and end of the program via blood samples. They used a type of marker often referred to as an epigenetic clock, which enables the biological age of an individual to be precisely determined. And the result is surprising since the participants in the study, all women, managed to reduce their biological age by more than four years on average.
The researchers explain that the majority of participants showed a decrease in biological age by between 1.22 and 11.01 years at the end of the program. More generally, they state that after the study, the average biological age of the participants was 51.23 years, compared to 55.83 years before the study, a decrease of 4.6 years on average following the eight weeks of intervention.
Keep in mind that biological age, unlike chronological age, which is determined by the year of birth, refers to the physiological state of an individual -- in other words, the state of their body.
Some caveats
Before getting overly excited, be aware that there are some limitations to the study to be taken into account, starting with the sample. Only six women participated in this research, which is an extremely small panel, even though most of the participants saw their biological age decline.
More research is needed in a larger population to determine exactly whether diet and healthy lifestyle can reverse aging. It should be noted that this work does support the results of a pilot clinical trial, presented in 2021, and carried out that time with 43 men aged between 50 and 72 years, who followed the same program, and saw a drop in biological age of 3.23 years on average compared to the control group.
"This case series of women participants study extends the previous pilot study of this intervention in men, indicating that favorable biological age changes may be achievable in both sexes. In addition, the investigation of otherwise-healthy individuals, rather than those with diagnosed disease, suggests an influence directly on underlying mechanisms of aging instead of disease-driven aging," the study authors explain in a statement.
Biological age has been the subject of several research investigations for many years. Recently, American scientists have been investigating the deleterious effects of stress on the aging of the body, concluding that stress management, or other external factors, can indeed play a role in biological age, although the damage observed in the body is not always permanent.
A start-up based in the United States, Turn Biotechnologies, co-founded by Vittorio Sebastiano, a scientist from Stanford University known for his work on cellular reprogramming, goes even further by claiming to be able to promote the rejuvenation of several types of human cells, including stem cells, thanks to a specific technology. All this research points to potential advances and great interest in the famous myth of eternal youth, if not immortality. – ETX Daily Up, May 16, 2023
