The food on your plate can influence your health at every age. A varied, balanced diet supports heart health, muscle strength and general wellbeing, while diets high in added sugars, salt and heavily processed foods are associated with a greater risk of several chronic diseases.
But could diet also affect the pace at which the body itself ages?
A study published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging in September 2024 explored that question by looking for connections between dozens of dietary components and biological ageing. The researchers identified nine nutrients or food components associated with either slower or faster epigenetic ageing in a group of postmenopausal women.
What is an epigenetic clock?
Your chronological age is simply the number of years since you were born. Biological age is an attempt to estimate how much age-related change has taken place in the body.
For this study, researchers used the PhenoAge epigenetic clock. Epigenetic clocks examine patterns of DNA methylation – chemical marks on DNA that can change with age and may also reflect health, lifestyle and environmental influences. They do not alter the underlying genetic code.
The researchers analysed data from 3,969 postmenopausal women in the US Women’s Health Initiative. The participants had an average age of about 63, and information about their diets came from food-frequency questionnaires. The team then used a statistical model to look for relationships between reported nutrient intake and accelerated or decelerated epigenetic ageing while accounting for the other variables in the dataset.
Three components associated with slower epigenetic ageing
The study linked higher intakes of the following three components with decelerated epigenetic ageing.
1. Coumestrol
A plant compound the US National Library of Medicine classes as an anti-inflammatory agent. It behaves a little like oestrogen in the body, which may be why it showed up as protective in a group of postmenopausal women. You’ll find it in soy products, split peas, lima and pinto beans, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and — in the highest concentrations of all — alfalfa and mung bean sprouts.
2. Beta-carotene
Your body converts it into vitamin A, and it supports skin, eye and immune health. This is the easiest of the three to get more of here, because Australia and New Zealand grow the best sources in abundance: carrots, pumpkin, kūmara and sweet potato, silverbeet, spinach, rockmelon, apricots and mango. A single roasted half-cup of pumpkin does more for you than most supplements.
3. Arachidic acid
A saturated fatty acid that, counter-intuitively for a saturated fat, has been associated with cardiovascular benefit. It turns up in peanuts and peanut oil, cocoa butter and macadamia oil.
Six components associated with faster epigenetic ageing
The analysis also linked higher intakes of six components with accelerated epigenetic ageing.
1. Added sugar
The least surprising entry on the list. The researchers note that excess sugar promotes oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which accelerate cellular ageing.
2. Gondoic acid
A monounsaturated long-chain fatty acid found in various plant oils, which the researchers linked to higher cardiovascular mortality risk.
3. Behenic acid
A very long-chain saturated fatty acid the team associated with raised cholesterol. It’s present in peanuts, canola and rapeseed oil, and in small amounts in macadamias.
4. Arachidonic acid
An omega-6 polyunsaturated fat that can drive inflammation, found mainly in meat, poultry, eggs and seafood.
5. Vitamin A
Vitamin A is essential for vision, immunity and normal cell function. The researchers found that higher intake was associated with accelerated epigenetic ageing, but this result should not be interpreted as a reason to avoid vegetables rich in beta-carotene. Excess preformed vitamin A – or retinol – is mainly a concern when high-dose supplements or certain concentrated sources are consumed. Too much can be toxic, particularly to the liver, while excessive intake during pregnancy can harm an unborn baby. If you are considering a vitamin A supplement, seek advice from a GP, pharmacist or accredited dietitian.
6. Dietary “ash”
An odd-sounding one. The study authors clarify that ash “represents inorganic mineral content and thus largely sodium content of foods” — in other words, it’s a proxy for salt, and too much drives up blood pressure.
What this means at an Australian or New Zealand dinner table
Strip away the biochemistry and the practical advice is unglamorous and familiar: eat more plants, more variety, and less of the salty, sugary, heavily processed stuff.
The problem is that we’re not doing it. Only 4.8% of Australian adults — one in twenty — meet the recommended daily serves of vegetables, legumes and beans, managing around three serves a day against a target of five to six. Just one in six (15.9%) get enough fruit. Across the Tasman it’s starker still: the New Zealand Health Survey 2024/25 found the proportion of adults meeting vegetable guidelines fell from 9.0% to 6.8% in a single year, while adult obesity climbed to 34.2%.
Some genuinely achievable changes:
- Add a handful of sprouts. Alfalfa or mung bean, into salads, sandwiches and wraps. It’s the single easiest way to pick up coumestrol.
- Make pumpkin and kūmara regulars, not sides. Roasted, mashed, in soup, in a frittata. Beta-carotene is abundant, cheap and locally grown nearly year-round.
- Check your bread’s sodium. Since it’s the number one salt source in both countries, comparing labels on the loaf you buy weekly will do more than anything you do with the shaker.
- Look at your supplements before your groceries. If you’re taking a multivitamin plus a separate vitamin A or cod liver oil product, add up the retinol. This is the one nutrient on the list where the risk sits in the cupboard, not the crisper.
- Get legumes into the rotation. Tinned chickpeas, lentils and beans are inexpensive, shelf-stable and count towards the vegetable target most of us are missing.
