How 5 women lowered their biological age by an average of 5 years

Six women between the ages of 46 and 65 followed an eight-week program that included changes in diet, sleep and exercise. They also received relaxation advice, probiotic and phytonutrient supplements, and nutritional coaching.

Blood tests showed a reduction in biological age of up to 11 years in five of the six women, with the average participant experiencing a decrease of 4.6 years, according to the study. published in March in the journal Aging.

The participants had an average chronological age of 58 at the start of the study, and all but one had a younger biological age. For this reason, it is unlikely that the reduction in biological age that most participants experienced during the study was due to improvement in the disease. Instead, the improvement “could be attributed to underlying mechanisms of aging,” wrote the authors – from the universities of Washington, Virginia and Illinois.

Biological vs Chronological Age

What is the difference between biological and chronological age? Simply put, chronological age is how long you’ve lived, while biological age is “how old your cells are.” according to northwestern medicine.

Biological age is also called epigenetic age. The epigenome “is made up of chemical compounds that modify or mark the genome in a way that tells it what to do, where to do it, and when to do it.” according to the US National Institutes of Health. These changes, influenced by environmental factors such as stress, diet, drugs and pollution, can be transmitted from cell to cell as they divide, and from generation to generation.

They are also reversible, as this study apparently demonstrates.

Lifestyle changes that seemed to reverse aging

As part of the study, participants were asked to consume the following foods daily:

• 2 cups dark leafy vegetables
• 2 cups of cruciferous vegetables
• 3 cups of colored vegetables
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds
• 1 to 2 beets
• Liver or liver supplement (three 3 oz servings per week)
• 1 serving of egg (5-10 per week)

They were also asked to eat two servings a day of methylation adaptogens, foods that promote DNA methylation, a process that controls gene expression. Examples of a serving of these foods include:

• ½ cup berries, preferably wild
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 2 cups green tea, steeped 10 minutes
• 3 cups oolong tea, steeped 10 minutes
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric

Participants were also asked to make the following adaptations to their daily lifestyle:

• Take 2 probiotic capsules
• Take 2 servings of “green vegetable powder”
• Drink 8 glasses of water a day
• Exercise for at least 30 minutes
• Practice breathing exercises twice
• Sleep at least 7 hours
• Fast 12 hours after their last meal of the day

None of the women completed all the tasks every day, and that’s okay, the researchers wrote. Improvements in biological age were observed in women who adhered to the program an average of 82% of the time. The relatively high level of patient compliance was likely largely due to the nutritional coaching provided, they added.

The effect of stress on biological age

A seventh participant, a man, withdrew from the study due to a family emergency. Prior to the study, he had a chronological age of 71 and a biological age of 57.6. He again had his biological age tested at eight weeks, although he withdrew from the study, and it had risen to 61.6. Previous research has documented “a sudden acceleration in biological age due to various stressful events,” although aging is reversed when the stressor resolves, the authors noted.

For some, however, the stress is not transient and displays a more permanent effect on aging. People with longstanding mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder are typically biologically older than their chronological age, according to recent research presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris.