Study shows that a healthy diet can slow down aging; understand

One study showed that a healthy diet is associated with a lower risk of dementia and a slowdown in aging . Of the 1,664 participants in the experiment, only 140 of them developed dysfunctions by eating the foods recommended by the researchers.

A search was carried out by the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and the Robert Butler Center on Aging at Columbia, and brought together evidence that explain the relationship between food, the risk of developing dementia and the process of deterioration of the human body .

To carry out the study, an epigenetic clock, DunedinPACE, was used, an instrument that allows measuring the biological age of human tissues.

Daniel Belsky, senior author of the study, compares the device to a car speedometer for the biological process of aging.

Participants based their diet on the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (Mind), a diet designed to reduce the risk of dementia and loss of brain function as you age. It is a combination of the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), designed to control hypertension.

At Mind, you are encouraged to eat vegetables (especially green leafy ones), red fruits, nuts, olive oil, whole grains, fish, beans, poultry and wine. It is recommended to avoid foods that contain butter or margarine, cheese, red meat, fried foods and sweets.

For the future, Belsky suggests that additional studies be carried out to investigate direct associations of nutrients with brain aging. “And if our observations are also confirmed in more diverse populations, monitoring biological aging could indeed inform dementia prevention.”