A low-calorie keto diet may help turn back the biological clock.
- A new study from Spain
examined the connection between obesity and epigenetic aging.
- Epigenetic aging refers to
how the body ages at a molecular level; sometimes a person’s biological
age does not always match up to their chronological age.
- They learned that a very
low-calorie ketogenic diet can turn back epigenetic aging by more than 6
years.
Obesity affects more
than 40% of adults in the United States, and one of the
health concerns related to obesity is how it affects different systems in the
body.
When a person’s body age
is higher than their chronological age, this can put them at a higher risk of
developing chronic
diseases. It is also linked to a shorter
lifespan.
The scientists who
conducted the new study further explored obesity and epigenetic
aging.
They found that people with obesity who were on a
very low-calorie ketogenic diet for 180 days had an
epigenetic age of more than 6 years lower than when they started.
The study findings
appear in Nutrients.
Biological
aging could shorten lifespan
Ketogenic diets, once
primarily used by people with epilepsy to reduce seizures, are popular for weight loss. The thinking
behind ketogenic diets is that by consuming a reduced amount
of carbs — typically under 50 grams (g) of carbs per day — people can put their
bodies into metabolic ketosis and shed fat more quickly.
This approach is
somewhat controversial since a food group is restricted, and
some evidence suggests it may cause low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
cholesterol to rise, which is linked to a higher risk of developing heart
disease or having a stroke.
Obesity is linked to
a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, and it can
accelerate biological aging by altering DNA
methylation patterns, which are measured using epigenetic clocks.
When someone’s biological age is higher than their
chronological age, they are susceptible to premature aging and a shorter
lifespan.
The researchers in the
new study explored accelerated epigenetic aging, obesity, and whether a very
low-calorie ketogenic diet could impact this aging measurement.
They tested this using
Horvath, Hannum, and Levine age clocks in a cross-sectional cohort of two
groups and in a longitudinal cohort:
- group
one of the cross-sectional cohort consisted of 20 people at a normal
weight
- group
two of the cross-sectional cohort included 28 people with obesity
- the
longitudinal cohort consisted of 10 people with obesity.
For the cross-sectional
cohort, the researchers focused on determining biological age. With the
longitudinal cohort, they put the group on a very low-calorie ketogenic diet
for 180 days and took blood samples baseline, after 30 days on the very
low-calorie ketogenic diet, and at the 180-day endpoint to assess biological
age.
Very
low-calorie ketogenic diet may scale back aging by 6 years
When comparing the
normal weight and obesity weight age groups, the researchers found that people
in the obesity group had higher biological age.
People with obesity had
an accelerated epigenetic age of 4.4 years, while people in the normal-weight
group exhibited a deceleration of 3.1 years.
While this discrepancy
in aging between normal-weight and obesity groups was concerning, the
researchers established with their longitudinal cohort that it is possible to
reverse the aging process through nutritional choices.
When analyzing blood samples taken at 30 days on nutritional
ketosis – when the body is thought to be in the process of burning fat – the
participants had an age deceleration of 6.1 years.
At the 180-day endpoint,
this participants sustained age deceleration, with an average age deceleration
of 6.2 years.
The researchers suspect
that being in nutritional ketosis is responsible for decelerated aging. They
noted that levels of beta-hydroxybutyrate, a ketone body produced during ketosis, were linked
to slower biological aging.
In addition to
experiencing an age deceleration, people on the very low-calorie ketogenic diet
saw improvements in glucose and insulin levels, which is significant since
people with obesity are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Overall, the scientists
established that obesity and biological aging are connected and that it can
potentially be reversed. The researchers noted that larger studies should be
conducted to “reinforce and consolidate the role of ketone bodies in the
epigenetic regulation of aging.”
Are there
health or safety concerns with very low-calorie keto?
Mir Ali,
MD, a board-certified general surgeon, bariatric surgeon, and medical director
of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in
Fountain Valley, California, spoke with Medical News Today about
the study.
“The key factors through
which obesity affects aging is by inducing greater inflammation, oxidative
stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction,” Ali, who was not involved in this
research, said when explaining how obesity can accelerate biological age.
“Stress and inflammation
cause increased breakdown of critical cellular functions in the body, leading
to accelerated aging,” he continued.
As for the study results, Ali found them interesting
but was not convinced that the very low-calorie ketogenic diet alone was
responsible for the age deceleration.
“A very low-calorie
ketogenic diet does show benefits, but any weight loss leading to a patient
achieving a healthy weight has been shown to improve all medical conditions and
prolong the life span; it is difficult to definitively conclude that the type
of diet is independent of the weight loss,” noted Ali.
Tiffany Marie
Hendricks, MD double-board certified in family and lifestyle medicine, also
weighed in on the study for MNT. Hendricks, who was not involved
in the study, is affiliated with Full Health and Wellness in Athens, AL.
She addressed the very
low-calorie ketogenic diet from a clinical perspective. Hendricks had some
concerns about the safety and sustainability of this approach.
“Translating very low-calorie ketogenic diet
findings into clinical guidelines faces several challenges,” she told us.
Hendricks explained
that:
“Very low-calorie
ketogenic diet involves severe calorie restriction (typically [under] 800
kcal/day [kilocalories per day]) and high fat intake, which may pose risks like
nutrient deficiencies, electrolyte imbalances, or ketoacidosis if not properly
monitored. The study does not report adverse events in detail, but long-term
safety data are lacking, especially for vulnerable populations (e.g., elderly,
those with kidney issues).”
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