Scientists Identified 10 Healthy Diets Linked to Slower Biological Aging
NEWS | 08 November 2026
We're all well aware that healthy diets are good for us in a multitude of different ways, and a new study published in Nature Communications highlights 10 diet regimes that were linked to slower biological aging in the people who stuck to them. Biological aging is how quickly or slowly our bodies are wearing out, and it doesn't necessarily match up with how many birthdays you've had. Faster aging tends to mean a shorter lifespan, and more health problems in later years. In this latest study, researchers led by a team from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) analyzed data for 6,470 participants aged 30 and over, comparing their scores across the 10 sets of diet guidelines with blood biomarkers that indicate biological age. Across the board, and for all of the diet regimes covered by the study, healthier eating was associated with slower biological aging. frameborder="0″ allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen> "The effects are not massive, but they are measurable and relevant for prevention," says epidemiologist Monique Breteler, from DZNE. "By slowing the aging process, the risk of age-related diseases such as dementia or cardiovascular disorders can be reduced. "According to our data, various dietary patterns are associated with slower aging, some more, some less. That is an encouraging finding, because it leaves room to tailor healthy eating to personal and cultural preferences, budget and taste." The diets picked by the researchers were already well established as guidelines. They included the Mediterranean diet, the Nordic diet, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet for lowering blood pressure, and the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet for supporting brain health. There were also 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. There was plenty of overlap in terms of the biological pathways the diets affected. (Louis Hansel/Unsplash) The final two diets, the Unhealthful Plant-based Diet Index (uPDI) and the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), actually measure unhealthy eating (think sugary drinks and sweets). With these diets, lower scores (so a lower adherence to them) were associated with slower aging. For the aging biomarkers, the researchers were looking at DNA methylation patterns – essentially the changes in chemical tags known to alter with biological age. "We applied three different approaches, so-called epigenetic clocks, to read biological aging from DNA methylation," says epidemiologist Juliana Tavares, from DZNE. "To this end, we leveraged state-of-the-art technology, which allowed us to cover about 850,000 sites in the DNA. This is roughly twice as many as in most previous studies." It's worth noting that hardly any of the participants hit high health scores on every set of dietary guidelines. It seems you only need to pick one of these to reduce the risk of your biological age getting ahead of your chronological age. While there were some differences in terms of which diets affected which aspects of biological aging – the heart for the DASH diet, and cognition and memory for the MIND diet, for instance – there was also a substantial amount of overlap. "More than 70 percent of the affected biological pathways were shared across all diets," says Tavares. "These involve cell structure, cell signaling and metabolism – processes central to aging and chronic disease." Related: Scientists Identified a Biological Signature of Tinnitus, And It's in Your Blood The results of the study were verified using a separate sample of 1,034 individuals, analyzed in the same way as the first group. The same associations emerged, broadly speaking: healthier eating meant slower biological aging. That said, the research doesn't show direct cause and effect, only a substantial link. The collected data represents a snapshot in time, and further studies could look at how diet changes over an extended period affect DNA methylation. "You don't need a perfect diet – that may be the most practical message here. But moving forward, the diet-specific pathways point to future research on targeted dietary interventions," says Tavares. "This could be helpful in designing targeted health recommendations." The research has been published in Nature Communications.
Author: David Nield.
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