Research Paper Advance Articles
Dietary associations with reduced epigenetic age: a secondary data analysis of the methylation diet and lifestyle study
- 1 School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- 2 Helfgott Research Institute, National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR 97201, USA
- 3 Colorado State University, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
- 4 Institute for Functional Medicine, WA 98003, USA
- 5 College of Nutrition, Sonoran University, Tempe, AZ 85282, USA
- 6 Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
Received: April 26, 2024 Accepted: March 13, 2025 Published: April 17, 2025
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206240How to Cite
Copyright: © 2025 Villanueva et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: 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.
Purpose: 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.
Results: 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 = -1.24, CI = [-2.80, -0.87]), 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.