A diet high in vitamins and minerals, particularly one low in added sugar, has been linked to a lower biological age at the cellular level, according to research from UC San Francisco.
The healthier people ate, the younger their cells seemed, according to their analysis of the effects of three distinct measures of healthy eating on a “epigenetic clock”—a biochemical test that can approximate both health and lifespan. Every gram of additional sugar taken by participants was linked to a rise in their epigenetic age, even in those who followed healthy diets.
Dorothy Chiu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and the study’s first author, said, “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.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open on July 29.
“From a lifestyle medicine standpoint, it is empowering to see how heeding these recommendations may promote a younger cellular age relative to chronological age.”
This study is among the first to demonstrate the connection between added sugar and epigenetic aging, and it is the first to look at this relationship in a diverse sample of middle-aged women who are both Black and White. The majority of research on the subject has involved older White subjects.
Elissa Epel, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF and co-senior author of the study, noted that the research contributes to our growing understanding of why sugar is so harmful to health.
“We knew that high levels of added sugars are linked to worsened metabolic health and early disease, possibly more than any other dietary factor,” Epel stated. “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.”
The study’s female participants said that they consumed an average of 61.5 grams of added sugar daily, although there was a wide variation: 2.7 to 316 grams. A 12-ounce can of cola contains approximately 39 grams of added sugar, compared to about 25 grams in a milk chocolate bar. Adults should limit their daily intake of added sugar to no more than 50 grams, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
A strategy focused on nutrients
In order to conduct the cross-sectional study, 342 Black and White women from Northern California, whose mean age was 39, had their eating records examined. Next, using measurements of the epigenetic clock acquired from saliva samples, they compared their diets.
The women’s diets were rated by researchers to compare them to two different diets: one associated with a lower risk of chronic disease and the other a Mediterranean-style diet high in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods.
Ultimately, the women’s diets were evaluated using a metric they developed, the “Epigenetic Nutrient Index (ENI)”; this index is based on nutrients, not foods, that have been connected to processes that promote anti-oxidative or anti-inflammatory responses as well as DNA maintenance and repair. These consist of isoflavones, dietary fiber, magnesium, selenium, folate, and vitamins A, C, B12, and E.
Following any of the diets, albeit most strongly the Mediterranean diet, was significantly linked to a reduced epigenetic age.
Even in the case of an otherwise healthy diet, the researchers who looked at sugar intake separately discovered that eating goods with added sugar was linked to faster biological aging.
“Removing 10 grams of added sugar per day could be equivalent to reversing the biological clock by 2.4 months, if maintained over time, given that epigenetic patterns appear to be reversible,” co-senior author Barbara Laraia, Ph.D., RD, a professor in the Food, Nutrition, and Population Health program at UC Berkeley, said. “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.”
