Scientists have linked dietary sugar intake to epigenetic aging in one of the first studies of its kind. Excess sugar consumption, already known to increase chronic disease risk, also appears to accelerate cellular aging. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers found that a higher-quality diet slowed the signs of aging, suggesting independent effects of diet and sugar consumption on health and aging. This highlights the importance of evaluating both in dietary contexts.
Dr. Dorothy Chiu, a Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health and lead author of the study, stated, “Our findings align with nutritional epidemiology literature, showing added sugars are related to chronic diseases and aging processes like inflammation.”
Dr. Heidi J. Silver, a Research Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, noted, “While the studies don’t show cause and effect, improving diet quality might slow age or environmentally-related epigenetic changes.”
The study examined 342 midlife women, split evenly between Black and white participants from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. This cohort, part of the NGHS study originally from the 1980s, was re-evaluated between 2015 and 2019.
Researchers used indices like the aMED Index and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index to gauge diet quality. They compared these scores to GrimAge2, an epigenetic clock based on DNA methylation, a process influencing gene expression.
Higher diet quality was anticipated to slow epigenetic aging, while sugar consumption was expected to accelerate it. Results confirmed these expectations, with diet quality showing a more significant effect than sugar intake.
Dr. Silver emphasized the importance of overall diet quality, suggesting reducing added sugars as one way to improve it, especially if replaced with healthier options.
Epigenetic age, distinct from chronological age, reflects cellular health influenced by behavioral and environmental factors. Chiu’s research, part of the geroscience field, explores how aging, disease, and biology interrelate. Epigenetic changes, being reversible, mean diet and lifestyle can positively or negatively impact aging.
Among Black and white midlife women, sugar intake and diet quality were predictors of epigenetic aging. A healthy diet slows the biological “clock,” while sugar accelerates it, emphasizing the role of diet in the aging process.
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