The diets that slow the ageing process

Is there one diet that slow the ageing process?

The short answer is no: any diet that focuses on eating plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits will put the brakes on biological ageing, say researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).

They tested 10 diets—including the Mediterranean, Nordic, a plant-based diet, and the DASH diet, which is designed to help lower blood pressure—on a group of 7500 people, whose blood markers were regularly checked.

They were surprised to see that all the diets had similar effects on biological ageing—and smokers benefited the most, possibly because cigarettes have such a damaging effect that any improvements through healthy eating were more obvious.

More than 70 percent of the biological markers, including processes that help regulate essential functions such as cellular structure, communication between cells, and metabolism, were improved by the diets.  Some helped one function more than another; the DASH diet was the most effective in improving heart pathways, while the MIND diet was especially beneficial for mental health, including memory and cognition.

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