The empirical evidence indicates that a regimen comprising dietary and lifestyle interventions that foster methylation may bring about a favorable effect on biological age for both genders, during the middle and senior years of life.
A novel program that promotes methylation support via a diet and lifestyle intervention spanning 8 weeks was discovered to significantly reduce the biological age of women based on a case series, indicating its potential to impact the underlying mechanisms of aging rather than age-associated diseases. The journal Aging recently released a study that investigated the effects of a distinctive program that combined diet and lifestyle changes.
The study involved a case series of six women who underwent a methylation-supportive diet and lifestyle program that aimed to affect DNA methylation and measures of biological aging. The program was spearheaded by Kara N. Fitzgerald, Tish Campbell, Suzanne Makarem, and Romilly Hodges, who are affiliated with the Institute for Functional Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the American Nutrition Association.
The investigation of a malleable lifestyle intervention conducted in this case series had its origins in a pilot clinical trial, which observed a reduction of 3.23 years in biological age among participants (who were exclusively men between 50-72 years old) compared to the control group. The case series discussed in this report is an expansion of the pilot study that focuses on malleable lifestyle intervention, predominantly identical to other populations, notably women.
The team performed an eight-week program that included guidance on diet, sleep, exercise, and relaxation, additional probiotics and phytonutrients, and nutritional coaching. To assess the impact of the intervention, DNA methylation, and biological age analysis were conducted on blood samples at the beginning and the end of the eight weeks, using the Horvath DNAmAge clock (2013) that was normalized through the SeSAMe pipeline.
The data gathered from the study showed that the diet and lifestyle intervention had a positive impact on the participants’ biological age. Five out of six individuals who participated in the program displayed a decrease in their biological age, with a range of 1.22 to 11.01 years. The mean biological age of the participants before and after the intervention was also analyzed, and a significant difference was observed (p=.039). The participants’ average biological age decreased by 4.60 years, with their initial mean biological age being 55.83 years and the final mean biological age being 51.23 years. It is worth noting that the participants’ average chronological age at the beginning of the study was 57.9 years. Additionally, all participants except one had a biological age that was lower than their chronological age at the start of the intervention. These findings suggest that the reduction in biological age was not solely attributed to disease improvement, but rather to the underlying mechanisms of aging.
The current study presents a series of cases including female participants which build upon a prior pilot investigation conducted solely on male subjects. The outcomes of this study imply that positive alterations in biological age may be within reach for individuals of both genders. Furthermore, the research focuses on individuals without any known illnesses, thus signifying that the intervention targets the root causes of aging rather than aging driven by disease.
Reference: “Potential reversal of biological age in women following an 8-week methylation-supportive diet and lifestyle program: a case series” by Kara N. Fitzgerald, Tish Campbell, Suzanne Makarem, and Romilly Hodges, 22 March 2023, Aging.
