Anti-Aging Diet: Discover the Foods That Can Make Your Brain Age Slower

A study has shown that lifestyle changes such as healthy eating, exercise, adequate sleep and meditation can “rejuvenate” our cells. Using a test that measures biological age based on DNA, researchers found that people who followed these changes became, on average, 2 years younger biologically. Foods such as green tea, berries and turmeric appear to help this process.

As people age, they are more likely to develop chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This is because aging is the main risk factor for these conditions.

That’s why scientists who study aging (a field called geroscience) are trying to understand how the body ages biologically and how we can interfere with this process to prevent or delay these diseases.

As time goes by, the body’s cells lose their normal functions. They become more inflamed, produce less energy, have more difficulty dealing with toxins and damage, and the control of cell growth also becomes unbalanced.

These cellular problems are directly linked to chronic diseases of aging. An important part of this process is how genes are "turned on or off," something that happens through epigenetic regulation, that is, without changing the DNA itself, the body changes how it is used.

One way to study this is by measuring what is called epigenetic age, which is different from the age we have on the calendar (chronological age). Epigenetic age is calculated based on chemical marks in DNA called methylations, which change over time.

These marks help the body know which genes should be activated or not, and follow a pattern that can be measured with specific tests.

In 2013, researcher Steve Horvath created the first "epigenetic clock", an algorithm that uses these patterns to estimate a person's biological age. Since then, new, more modern "clocks" have been developed that, in addition to the marks in DNA, also consider other information such as signs of inflammation in the blood, history of diseases and even lifestyle habits, such as smoking.

The older clocks measure the "internal" aging of cells, while the newer ones try to predict more accurately how this aging is reflected in the body as a whole, for example, in the risk of diseases or early death.

A study called the Methylation Diet and Lifestyle tested whether lifestyle changes could influence epigenetic age. In this study, healthy, middle-aged men participated in an eight-week intervention that included a plant-rich diet, exercise, quality sleep, and daily meditation.

The diet was carefully designed to include foods that help regulate epigenetics, such as sources of vitamins and natural compounds (such as polyphenols). They were also instructed to avoid inflammatory or processed foods, such as sugar, alcohol, dairy, and refined grains.

By the end of the study, the men who followed the intervention were, on average, 2 years younger in terms of epigenetic age. Meanwhile, those who did not follow the intervention showed a slight increase in epigenetic age.

The difference between the two groups showed that the healthy lifestyle had a positive and statistically significant effect on “rejuvenating” cells.

However, there was considerable individual variation. Some participants in the intervention group looked almost 9 years younger, while others looked about 8 years older. The control group also showed significant variation. This shows that the response to treatment can depend on many different factors.

Based on this, the scientists decided to investigate further what caused this difference in response between people. They analyzed what the participants ate, their weight and other characteristics, trying to understand what factors could explain why some people looked younger than others.

They focused in particular on so-called methyladaptogens, foods such as green tea, turmeric, garlic, berries and rosemary, which directly help regulate epigenetics.

The results showed that the consumption of these specific foods was linked to a greater reduction in epigenetic age, even after controlling for factors such as initial weight and changes in weight during the study. In other words, more than simply losing weight, foods rich in compounds that influence DNA markers appear to have played an important role in cellular rejuvenation.

In addition, the researchers also studied whether the difference between people’s epigenetic age and chronological age at the beginning of the study could predict how they would respond to the intervention.

This could help in the future to better personalize aging prevention strategies based on each person’s profile.

In summary, this study shows that healthy habits can directly influence cellular aging, and that certain foods have the potential to “rejuvenate” our DNA. Although more research is still needed, the data reinforce the idea that lifestyle, especially diet, can play a real and measurable role in controlling biological aging.

READ MORE:

Dietary associations with reduced epigenetic age: a secondary data analysis of the methylation diet and lifestyle study

Jamie L. Villanueva, Alexandra Adorno Vita, Heather Zwickey, Kara Fitzgerald, Romilly Hodges, Benjamin Zimmerman, and Ryan Bradley

Aging. 17 April 2025,  Volume 17, Issue 4 pp 994-1010

DOI: 10.18632/aging.206240

Abstract:

Aging is the primary risk factor for developing non-communicable chronic diseases, necessitating interventions targeting the aging process. Outcome measures of biological aging used in these interventions are mathematical algorithms applied to DNA methylation patterns, known as epigenetic clocks. The Methylation Diet and Lifestyle study was a pilot randomized controlled trial of a diet and lifestyle intervention that utilized epigenetic age as its primary outcome, measured using Horvath’s clock. Significant reductions in epigenetic age post-intervention were observed but with notable variability. This research aimed to identify dietary components associated with epigenetic age change across groups. Contributing factors to variability, such as weight changes and baseline differences in chronological and epigenetic age, were explored. In hierarchical linear regression, foods investigated as polyphenolic modulators of DNA methylation (green tea, oolong tea, turmeric, rosemary, garlic, berries) categorized in the original study as methyl adaptogens showed significant linear associations with epigenetic age change (B = -1.21, CI = [-2.80, -0.08]), after controlling for baseline epigenetic age acceleration and weight changes. Although the intervention group lost significantly more weight than the control group, these changes were not associated with epigenetic age changes in the regression model. These findings suggest that consuming foods categorized as methyl adaptogens may reduce markers of epigenetic aging.