Essential Nutrients, Added Sugar Intake, and Epigenetic Age

Essential Nutrients, Added Sugar Intake, and Epigenetic Age in Midlife Black and White Women

Source: JAMA Network July 2024, Summary

 

The study examines the association between diet and epigenetic aging in midlife Black and White women, with a focus on essential nutrients, added sugar, and dietary indices.

 

Research indicates that higher added sugar intake accelerates, while a better diet slows, cellular aging.

 

Study Objective

This cross-sectional study, involving 342 Black and White women (average age 39), analyzed how essential nutrients, added sugar, and dietary scores (e.g., aMED, AHEI-2010, novel ENI-index) affect the GrimAge2 epigenetic clock, which measures biological aging based on DNA from saliva.

 

Key Findings

Higher aMED (β=−0.41), AHEI-2010 (β=−0.05), and ENI (β=−0.17) scores indicated younger epigenetic age in fully adjusted models.

Each gram of daily added sugar increased GrimAge2 by 0.02 years (7.3 days) (β=0.02; 95% CI: 0.01-0.04).

 

Conclusions

• Better Diet

(rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients) and low added sugar intake slow cellular aging, independently of each other; this needs to be confirmed by longitudinal studies.

 

• Reversible Process

According to Dr. Epel and colleagues, epigenetic patterns are modifiable.

Their estimates suggest that eliminating 10 grams (~2 teaspoons) of added sugar daily, sustained long-term, could potentially reverse the biological clock by 2.4 months. (This is a +20% improvement!)

 

• Dual Effect

For healthy aging, a diet rich in vitamins and minerals (like the Mediterranean diet) is not enough; simultaneously reducing added sugar intake is critical to prevent cellular damage.

• Added Sugar

shows a detrimental association with epigenetic age even in the context of an otherwise healthy diet.

 

The graph illustrates the concept of epigenetic aging acceleration, which measures the difference between an individual's biological age (determined by DNA methylation patterns) and their actual chronological age. More details

 

Is a Sugar-Free Diet the Key to Youth?

Researchers at the University of San Francisco found a correlation between a diet rich in vitamins and minerals, with as little added sugar as possible, and a younger biological age.

The researchers investigated how a healthy diet influences the so-called "epigenetic clock," an AI-based biochemical test that can measure aging processes and predict the likelihood of various diseases and mortality.

It turned out that the better people eat, the younger their cells appear.

However, even with a healthy diet, every gram of added sugar consumed is associated with an increase in epigenetic age.

 

This is one of the first studies to show a link between added sugar and epigenetic aging, and to examine this relationship in a heterogeneous group of midlife women from different racial backgrounds. Most research on this topic to date has only involved older, white participants.

"This study helps us understand why sugar is so detrimental to health," added Elissa Epel, Ph.D., co-author of the study and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF.

"We already knew that high amounts of added sugars are linked to metabolic decline and early diseases, probably more than any other dietary factor," Epel said.

"But now we also know that the background to this connection is accelerated epigenetic aging, and it's likely that excessive sugar intake limits healthy, long longevity."

 

Nutrient-Based Approach

For the study, researchers analyzed dietary data from 342 Black and White women in Northern California, aged 39, and then compared their diets with epigenetic clock signals from saliva samples.

The researchers also scored the women's diets to see how they aligned with a Mediterranean-style diet rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods, and a diet that reduces the risk of chronic diseases.

 

Finally, the women's diets were also scored against their created "Epigenetic Nutrient Index (ENI)" measure, which is based on nutrients (not foods) associated with antioxidant or anti-inflammatory processes and DNA repair. These include vitamins A, C, B12, and E, folate, selenium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and isoflavones.

The adoption of any diet was significantly associated with lower epigenetic age, with the strongest correlation observed for the Mediterranean diet.

The researchers specifically examined sugar intake as well and found that consumption of foods containing added sugar accelerates biological aging even when otherwise eating a healthy diet.

"Given that epigenetic patterns appear to be reversible, it's possible that by consuming even just 10 grams less added sugar daily, sustained long-term, our biological age could decrease by 2.4 months," said Barbara Laraia, Ph.D., RD, Professor in the Food, Nutrition, and Public Health Program at UC Berkeley.

 

 

Could there be a more convincing argument for someone to completely eliminate sugar consumption and replace it with allulose?!