DZNE links 10 dietary patterns to slower biological aging in a 6,470-person cohort study
Researchers evaluated 10 diet indices against DNA methylation data from 6,470 adults, linking healthier eating habits to reduced rates of biological aging.
A research team led by the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) identified an association between adherence to 10 established dietary patterns and slower biological aging, according to sciencealert.com. The study analyzed cross-sectional data from 6,470 participants aged 30 and older, comparing nutritional adherence scores with blood biomarkers of biological age sciencealert.com
sciencealert.comsciencealert.comOpen source ↗. The findings were subsequently verified in an independent validation cohort of 1,034 individuals.
To determine biological age, investigators evaluated DNA methylation patterns across approximately 850,000 genomic sites using three epigenetic clocks. The assessment included the Mediterranean diet, the Nordic diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) protocol, the MIND diet, the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010), the Plant-based Diet Index (PDI), the Healthful Plant-based Diet Index (hPDI), and the EAT-Lancet diet. Two metrics measuring unhealthy eating—the Unhealthful Plant-based Diet Index (uPDI) and the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII)—demonstrated that lower adherence was similarly correlated with slower biological aging.
Shared Molecular Pathways
The researchers noted that more than 70 percent of the affected biological pathways were shared across all evaluated dietary regimens. These common pathways specifically involve cellular structure maintenance, cell signaling, and basic metabolic processes that drive aging mechanisms and chronic conditions. While specific patterns correlated with distinct outcomes, such as DASH with cardiovascular metrics and MIND with cognitive measures, broad biological overlap remained dominant.
Observational Scope
The authors emphasized that the dataset represents an observational snapshot in time and does not establish direct cause-and-effect relationships sciencealert.com
sciencealert.comsciencealert.comOpen source ↗. Most participants did not achieve high adherence across every index, suggesting that following any single recognized regimen correlates with measurable epigenetic differences. Further research will be required to track how extended nutritional changes modify DNA methylation markers over longitudinal timeframes.
