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Eating a vegan diet may reduce a person’s biological age, research suggests.
A study looked at 21 pairs of identical twins, aged 39; one of each of the twins ate a vegan diet, while the sibling ate an omnivorous diet.
After eight weeks of a plant-based diet, the study found the participants had a “younger” heart, liver, inflammatory and metabolic system.
These changes were not seen in the twins whose diet included meat, eggs and dairy products.
Those who ate a vegan diet also lost 2kg more on average than those who did not, probably because of differences in the calorie content of meals provided during the initial four weeks of the study.
According to experts, the weight loss could have contributed to the observed differences in biological age between the groups.

Some experts suggested that, long-term, a vegan diet may result in nutritional deficiencies and may not suit all ages, while others said the differences observed in the study could have been down to weight loss.
By the end of the study, the researchers observed decreases in biological age estimations based on levels of DNA methylation – a type of chemical modification of DNA that is used to estimate biological age.
Biological ageing refers to the decline in functioning of tissues and cells in the body, as opposed to chronological age (the number of years a person has lived).
Previous research has reported that increased DNA methylation levels are associated with ageing.
However, Varun Dwaraka, of epigenetic testing company TruDiagnostic, and Christopher Gardner of Stanford University in California, said it was unclear to what extent the differences between the pairs could be attributed to the differences in diet.
Further research was needed to investigate the relationship between diet, weight and ageing, in addition to the long-term effects of vegan diets, they added.

Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, in the UK, who was not involved in the study, said the research found some difference in terms of ageing for vegans.
He noted that it did not consider the fact that vitamin and mineral deficiencies often take years to appear, and that some research suggests a vegan diet may not be good for older people’s health.
Dr Duane Mellor, dietitian and spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said that although the study compared a vegan diet to an omnivorous diet, these diets were not entirely matched in terms of calories.
He explained: “It is possible that a reduction in energy intake could potentially have altered how the participants’ DNA was changed.”
Mellor added that the vegan group were asked to eat twice the number of portions of vegetables, more fruit and more legumes, nuts and seeds than the omnivore group, which could also in part explain the differences reported.
The findings are published in the journal BMC Medicine.
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Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Food & Drink

Pairs of identical twins were compared after one twin ate only plants for 8 weeks; tests showed a reduction in these twins’ biological age


A small study of identical twins, with one of each pair fed an omnivorous diet and the other a plant-based diet, found after eight weeks that those on the latter diet had lower weight and biological age.


How to age well

Veganism and vegetarianism

Food and Drinks