Researchers at UC San Francisco have discovered that eating a diet rich in vitamins and minerals, especially one low in added sugar, can help keep your cells younger.
This means that eating well not only makes you feel good but can also make you biologically younger at the cellular level.
The scientists studied how three different types of healthy eating habits affected an “epigenetic clock”—a test that estimates both health and lifespan.
They found that the better people ate, the younger their cells appeared. However, even if people followed a healthy diet, each gram of added sugar they consumed made their cells age faster.
“The diets we looked at are in line with current recommendations for preventing disease and promoting health,” said Dorothy Chiu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and the study’s first author.
“They especially highlight the benefits of nutrients that fight oxidation and inflammation.”
Chiu added, “It’s encouraging from a lifestyle perspective to see that following these recommendations may help keep our cells younger than our actual age.”
This study, published in JAMA Network Open, is among the first to show a link between added sugar and faster aging at the cellular level. It is also the first to look at this connection in a diverse group of women, both Black and white, in midlife. Previous studies mostly involved older white participants.
The findings deepen our understanding of why sugar is so harmful to our health. Elissa Epel, Ph.D., a UCSF professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a co-senior author of the study, explained, “We already knew that high sugar intake is linked to worse metabolic health and early diseases. Now we know that it also speeds up cellular aging, which may be one of the reasons why excessive sugar reduces healthy lifespan.”
In the study, women reported consuming an average of 61.5 grams of added sugar per day. However, the range was wide, from 2.7 to 316 grams daily. For context, a bar of milk chocolate has about 25 grams of added sugar, while a 12-ounce can of cola has about 39 grams. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends adults consume no more than 50 grams of added sugar per day.
The researchers analyzed food records from 342 Black and white women, averaging 39 years old, from Northern California. They compared their diets with epigenetic clock measures, derived from saliva samples.
They scored the women’s diets against a Mediterranean-style diet rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods and another diet linked to a lower risk of chronic disease. They also created the “Epigenetic Nutrient Index (ENI),” based on nutrients linked to oxidative or inflammatory processes and DNA maintenance. These include Vitamins A, C, B12 and E, folate, selenium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and isoflavones.
Adherence to any of the diets was significantly associated with a lower epigenetic age, with the Mediterranean diet showing the strongest link.
Interestingly, they found that consuming foods with added sugar sped up biological aging, even if the rest of the diet was healthy.
“Since epigenetic patterns can be reversible, cutting 10 grams of added sugar per day could turn back the biological clock by 2.4 months if maintained over time,” said Barbara Laraia, Ph.D., RD, a UC Berkeley professor and co-senior author of the study.
“Focusing on nutrient-rich foods low in added sugars may be a new way to motivate people to eat well for longevity.”
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about the benefits of low-dose lithium supplements, and low calorie diets may help reverse type 2 diabetes.
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