Sticking to a vegan diet — even for just two months — knocks years off your biological age, according to new research.
Scientists found that eating only vegan food for eight weeks led to reductions in biological age estimations.
The American team conducted a trial involving 21 pairs of adult identical twins.
Their findings, published in the journal BMC Medicine, were based on levels of DNA methylation – a type of chemical modification of DNA that alters gene expression but not DNA itself.
Previous research has shown that increased DNA methylation levels are associated with aging.
The team investigated the molecular effects of a short-term vegan diet by instructing one half of each twin pair to eat an omnivorous diet for eight weeks — including between 170 and 225 grams of meat, one egg, and 1.5 servings of dairy each day, while the other half ate a vegan diet for the same length of time.
Participants were an average of 40-years-old and had an average body mass index (BMI) of 26 kilos per meters squared; 77% of the participants were women.
For the first four weeks of the study participants ate meals that had been prepared for them and for the second four weeks participants ate meals that they had prepared themselves, after receiving nutrition classes.
The researchers investigated the impacts of diet on levels of DNA methylation by analyzing blood samples collected from participants at the outset, week four, and week eight of the study.
The team used DNA methylation levels to infer the biological ages of participants and their organ systems.
By the end of the study the team observed decreases in estimates of biological age – known as epigenetic ageing clocks – in participants who ate a vegan diet, but not among those that ate an omnivorous diet.
Professor Christopher Gardner, of Stanford University, California, said: “We also observed decreases in the ages of the heart, hormone, liver, and inflammatory and metabolic systems of participants who ate a vegan, but not an omnivorous diet, for eight weeks.”
The researchers warned that the extent to which the differences observed between participants who ate different diets can be attributed to their dietary compositions is unclear.
They noted that participants who ate a vegan diet lost two kilos (4.4 lbs) more on average than those who ate an omnivorous diet due to differences in the calorie contents of meals provided during the initial four weeks of the study.
The researchers suggest that the weight loss variations could have contributed to the observed differences in epigenetic age between both groups.
Corresponding author Dr Varun Dwaraka [CORRECT], of TruDiagnostic Inc, added: “Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between dietary composition, weight and aging, in addition to the long-term effects of vegan diets.”
