New York: A team of researchers has found that following diets rich in plant foods and low in animal products may slow biological aging.
Led by Hyunju Kim from the Department of Epidemiology and the Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, the study examined whether four plant-based diet indices — overall PDI, pro-vegetarian diet, healthy PDI, and unhealthy PDI — were associated with DNA methylation-based measures of epigenetic aging.
The authors analysed data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and assessed associations with GrimAge2, HannumAge, and PhenoAge.
The researchers found that each standard deviation higher in the overall PDI, pro-vegetarian diet, and healthy PDI was associated with decelerated GrimAge2, while higher overall PDI and provegetarian diet were also associated with decelerated PhenoAge and HannumAge.
By contrast, unhealthy PDI was not significantly associated with epigenetic aging. The findings suggest that plant-rich dietary patterns, especially those emphasizing healthier plant foods, may be linked to slower biological aging in largely non-vegetarian populations.
“No significant association was observed for unhealthy PDI and any of the DNA methylation-based aging,” they noted in a research paper published in Aging-US. The authors note that these are observational data and do not establish causality.
