Your Age With or Without Sugar

From eNewsletter 11/11/2024

DID YOU KNOW that researchers have found a link between following a diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially one without added sugar, and having a younger biological age at the cellular level?

I know you know this, but is always nice to see in a journal like JAMA Network Open. Moreover, the study is one of the first to show a link between added sugar and epigenetic aging, and the first to examine this link in a heterogenous group of midlife women, including black, hispanic, and white.

Finally, they scored the women's diets against a measure they created called the Epigenetic Nutrient Index, which is based on nutrients (not foods) that have been linked to anti-oxidative or anti-inflammatory processes and DNA maintenance and repair. Vitamins A, C, B12 and E, folate, selenium, magnesium, dietary fiber and isoflavones were ranked highest. Moreover, adherence to the Mediterranean diet had the strongest association with lower epigenetic age.

Given this finding that epigenetic patterns can be reversible, the authors suggest that eliminating each 10 grams of added sugar per day is akin to turning back the biological clock by 2.4 months. With the amount of sugar the average American consumes daily, this can amount to a significant reversal of aging!

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