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What we eat could affect how long we live. Some research suggests that UK adults could enjoy 10 extra years of longevity by switching to a diet higher in whole grains, nuts, and fruits, and lower in sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats, for instance.
And remarkably, one paper found that older adults’ biological age seemed to lower after four weeks by shifting the percentage of fats and carbs in their usual diets
Biological age refers to how old a person’s tissues and organs are on a cellular level, and is different from how many years they’ve been alive (chronological age)
<strong>How can my diet lower my biological age?
This study, which involved 65- to 75-year-olds, randomly assigned them to one of four diets:
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omnivorous high-fat (OHF) –7% plant protein and 7% animal protein, 37%-41% of energy from fat, and 41%-43% carbohydrates
omnivorous high-carbohydrate (OHC) – 7% plant protein and 7% animal protein, 28%-29% fat, and 53% carbohydrates
semi-vegetarian high-fat (VHF) – about 10% plant protein and roughly 4% animal protein, 37%-41% of energy from fat, and 41%-43% carbohydrates
semi-vegetarian high-carbohydrate(VHC) – 28%-29% fat, and 53% carbohydrates
The OHF group, a high-fat diet which meant participants ate all foods, reflected most of the older adults’ pre-trial diets. Following this diet didn’t lead to a reduction in biological age after the four-week intervention.
But all three of the other diets did.
The strongest evidence of benefit seemed to come from the OHC diet, in which participants ate all foods but got a lot of their energy from carbohydrates and relied less on fat.
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This was close to their “normal” diet, but with less focus on fat and more on carbohydrates.
Specifically, the OHC diet was made up of 14% energy from protein, 28-29% fat, and 53% carbohydrates
Meanwhile most participants’ usual diet outside of the study had roughly the same amount of protein, but derived 37-41% of energy from fat and 41%-43% from carbohydrates
More research is needed
Associate Professor Alistair Senior, from the University of Sydney’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Charles Perkins Centre, who supervised the research, said they don’t know for sure how the changes they saw in this study might play out in the long-term.
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“Longer-term dietary changes are needed to assess whether dietary changes alter the risk of age-related diseases,” he explained
Meanwhile, lead author Dr Caitlin Andrews, from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, added that “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,” she continued
“Future research should explore whether these findings extend to other cohorts and whether the changes recorded are sustained or predictive of long-term outcomes.”
