A plan to make you look three years younger in two months? Take it, no thanks!

As the saying goes, time is not forgiving, and as we age, our body functions begin to deteriorate. Aging is reflected in DNA methylation, and the "epigenetic clock" is a method that can track the biological age of humans and other mammals through DNA methylation.

A recent study has demonstrated that by simply changing their diet and lifestyle, participants looked more than three years younger in just two months. This is the first time that a randomized controlled clinical trial has shown that dietary and lifestyle interventions can potentially reverse epigenetic age and slow biological aging.

Let's take a look at this plan. It includes four aspects:

1. Diet plan:

During the diet, participants were asked to:

Intermittent fasting (not eating between 7pm and 7am)

Limit calorie intake and eat a plant-based diet that includes leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, low-sugar fruits, and small amounts of eggs and meat (organic, hormone-free, and antibiotic-free, if possible)

Try to avoid foods and drinks with added sugars

Also take probiotics every day.

2. Exercise plan:

Exercise for 30 minutes or more at least 5 days a week at an intensity of 60-80% of your maximum perceived fatigue level.

3. Sleep plan:

Get at least an average of 7 hours of sleep per night.

4. Relaxation plan:

Twice a day, practice the relaxation technique developed by Harvard University's Dr. Herbert Benson, which involves deep breathing to reduce stress.

Let’s take a look at the results:

At the end of the 8-week experiment, the researchers collected saliva samples from the participants for genome-wide DNA methylation analysis and calculated using the epigenetic clock developed by Professor Steve Horvath. The results showed that:

Compared with a control group, the eight-week diet, exercise, sleep and relaxation treatment reduced their DNA methylation age by 3.23 years.

This study is the first to demonstrate in a randomized controlled clinical trial that dietary and lifestyle interventions can potentially reverse epigenetic age and slow biological aging.

The specific plan can be seen in the figure below.

Reference: Potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle intervention: a pilot randomized clinical trial