Following a vegan diet for several months can slow aging, new research points out.
However, these findings should not be overstated, experts cautioned, in part because of limitations in the way the study was conducted.
In a small clinical trial involving 21 pairs of healthy identical twins, one twin from each group ate vegan food while the other twin followed an omnivorous diet, which included plants, meat, eggs and milk. The twins followed this diet for eight weeks. The idea behind using identical twins is that, based on their shared genes, the influence of food can be isolated and studied more easily.
The twins, who were about 40 years old on average, mostly women, ate the food prepared by the researchers during the first month of the study. In the second month, the participants cooked for themselves, after receiving nutrition classes.
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The researchers tested the participants’ blood before starting their diet, for four weeks, and again at the end of the study. They looked at changes in chemical tags above DNA in twin cells; specifically, they tested molecules called methyl groups, which latch onto DNA and change the rate at which specific genes “switch.” They do this without changing the basic DNA code – a phenomenon known as epigenetic modification.
Changes in methylation patterns are associated with an accelerated rate of agingand scientists have studied these changes in order to create “epigenetic clocks” that can be linked to living things. maximum life span.
Over the course of eight weeks, the twins who ate a vegan diet had significantly reduced levels of DNA methylation, compared to before they started the study, the researchers found. However, their omnivorous siblings did not show significant changes in DNA methylation during this period.
The team used experiments based on whether the methylation changes seen in the vegan group were linked to any other aging processes. They found that they were tied to “minor” member points such as the heart and the liver, as well as the physical processes involved inflammation and metabolism. At least one of the tests they used is licensed by TruDiagnosticsan epigenetics testing company that funded the new study.
These findings suggest that going vegan may have anti-aging effects, at least in the short term, the team said. They described their research in a study published Sunday (July 28) in the journal BMC Medicine.
“This experiment suggests that a plant-based diet may be more effective than a healthy omnivorous diet in altering epigenetic markers that may be associated with improved health, ” Dr. Luigi Fontana, a professor of medicine and nutrition at the University of Sydney who was not involved in the research, told Live Science via email. (“Healthspan” refers to the length of time a person stays healthy throughout their life, rather than just living.)
However, the new findings should be treated with caution, Fontana noted.
First, the study was only two months long, which raises the question of whether these epigenetic changes are temporary, Fontana said. Aging is a lifelong process, so future studies will need to investigate whether these findings can be replicated over time, he said.
Another possible finding of the study is that the twins who followed the vegan diet lost 4.4 kilograms (2 kg) more than the omnivores. This is because they ate very few calories, the lead study author Varun Dwaraka, head of bioinformatics at TruDiagnostics, told Live Science. Therefore, it is possible that these weight changes somehow contributed to the observed changes in DNA methylation.
In particular, calorie restriction has been shown to slow aging in mice and monkeysalong with other originals clinical trials in humans.
“What we can hope for in the next analysis is to start disentangling these factors,” Dwaraka said. Future experiments could ensure that conjoined twins eat the same number of calories, regardless of their diet, he said.
Going vegan not only affected the natural aging process but also changed the types of immune cells circulating in the participants’ blood, it said. Daniel Belsky, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University. Belsky was involved in development of one of the epigenetic experiments used in the study but not in the study itself.
The mechanisms of natural aging are derived from the immune system, so what appears to be the effect of a vegan diet on aging may be an “artificial” temporary immune response in this way. to eat, Belsky told Live Science in an email. .
However, the new study suggests that epigenetic tests may help predict how different diets affect the aging process, Dwaraka said. Going forward, the team plans to investigate whether following other foods – such as something or Paleo Food, for example – can produce similar anti-aging benefits.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice.
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