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A recent study published in the journal Aging has attracted a lot of attention from the scientific community and the general public.
The study, conducted by the U.S. Methylation Laboratory and leading scientists in the field of molecular diagnostics, conducted an aging trial on six female participants with lifestyle interventions for eight weeks.
At the end of the trial, the results were surprising – the biological mean age of the six female participants was reduced by 4.6 years.
This conclusion is like a bombshell to the "biological age" in real life, which not only breaks the stereotype that people have always believed that "aging cannot be reversed", but also proves to us: "As long as we are willing to change our lifestyle, it is possible for us to reverse our biological age and become younger."
So how exactly did this jaw-dropping experiment come about?
What does it mean to reverse aging?
1. Tests and their results.
The trial lasted eight weeks and included six women between the ages of 50 and 72.
Of the six women, one is African-American, 62 years old and has done a lot of physical activity.
There is another Muslim from Morocco, who is 64 years old and has a long-term diet that leans towards the Mediterranean food culture.
Then there are two 64-year-old white American women, a vegetarian and a seafood lover.
The last one, also a white woman of American descent, was 72 years old, with a cheerful personality and a yoga enthusiast.
Before the trial, the average biological age of the participants was 60.7 years, but after the trial, the average biological age of the participants decreased to 56.1 years.
That is, the biological age of the six female participants decreased by 4.58 years, that is, their new biological age was 56 years on average.
The final value of the trial was a reduction in the average age of 4.6 years for the six female participants, while the weight of the six female participants also decreased by 4.5 kg, the body fat percentage decreased by about 6.9%, and the amount of belly fat decreased by 20.7% of the body fat.
The key to this experiment is DNA methylation analysis technology, which is used to measure the biological age of the body.
Specifically, DNA methylation analysis techniques assess the aging state of the body by measuring the methylation level of DNA.
At a certain age, certain genes in the body will be methylated, which will cause the body's metabolism to slow down, thereby accelerating the body's aging rate.
DNA methylation is closely related to the mechanism of aging, and the body's lifestyle will also have a significant impact on DNA methylation.
High-intensity exercise can lead to a decrease in DNA methylation levels of genes, while a high-fat diet and weight gain can lead to an increase in DNA methylation levels of genes.
Based on this principle, we can use the level of DNA methylation in a biological sample to calculate the age of an organism.
A 64-year-old female participant was 8.2 years younger than her previous biological age at the end of the trial, which is also the most striking statistic.
Xana. Urvi, the eldest of the six participants, chose not to have her weight measured because of her poor health and a rare genetic disease.
During the 8-week lifestyle intervention, the researchers reduced the participants' food intake to no more than 1,600 calories per day, while giving some instruction on exercise and yoga.
In addition to this, the participants also received some guidance on mental health, and increased their intake of antioxidant nutrients and a nutritional balance that can enhance memory.
A health expert once said that as long as we want, we can change our "biological age" and launch a "reversal offensive" against our biological age.
2. The impact of dietary habits and lifestyle on the human body.
Since our biological age can be changed through lifestyle habits, this further illustrates the importance of eating habits and lifestyles to human health.
On the one hand, we need to eat a balanced diet that allows our body to function more smoothly and healthier.
On the other hand, we can also maintain our body young by developing some healthy lifestyle habits, such as exercising.
As we age, our immune system weakens, which makes us more susceptible to environmental factors, such as disease.
In addition, a weakened immune system can also lead to a gradual disruption of the body's homeostasis, which will lead to an increasing risk of geriatric diseases.
Therefore, in order to keep the body young, we need to improve the function of our immune system, which requires us to adjust our eating habits.
The scientists in charge of the study believed: "If we can develop good eating habits and lifestyles, then we can significantly reverse our biological age."
Good eating habits refer to the timely intake of foods that are beneficial to our healthy life, and the right amount of these foods is required.
According to this principle, although we can improve the body's immune function by consuming a moderate amount of antioxidant foods, at the same time, we cannot improve the body's antioxidant capacity through a large intake of antioxidant foods, which will only make its adaptability weaker.
On the contrary, it will also lead to the gradual loss of the body's natural antioxidant function, so we must pay attention to the appropriate amount when consuming antioxidant foods.
American nutritionist Cynthia Garber said: "Increasing the intake of antioxidant foods is very important to delay the aging process of the human body, and this can be changed by our own eating habits."
At the same time, we can also properly carry out low-calorie dieting, so that the impact on our body's aging process will become very large.
A Swedish study of a large number of participants showed that people who went on a low-calorie diet had better overall health than those who did not.
People who diet have lower blood lipid acid levels than those who do not diet, and at the same time, they can significantly reduce body weight and health risks, and can also improve the body's metabolic function.
Therefore, from this point of view, proper dieting can also help to slow down the aging process, but it is also necessary to note that people who follow a low-calorie diet need to increase their intake of some nutrients.
In addition, you can also improve your immune system function by taking some supplements.
For older people, the immune system becomes more fragile than younger people due to the slowdown of the body's metabolism.
Therefore, we can help the body to improve its ability to resist diseases by consuming some tonics, thereby delaying the aging process of the body.
3. Application of DNA methylation technology.
The conclusions of this experiment open a new door for us, which offers the possibility of improving the biological age of each individual.
After all, everyone's physical condition, lifestyle, and eating habits are different, so it is almost impossible to come up with a plan that works for the masses.
This also means that there will be more and more personalized interventions for aging in the future.
The DNA methylation technology used in this trial could open new doors for us to study, not only in the study of aging, but also in diseases such as disease prevention and treatment.
In the field of disease prevention, this technique can be used to predict the probability of coronary heart disease.
Specifically, it is only necessary to check the level of DNA methylation in the subject to determine whether the subject has heart disease.
In addition, DNA methylation technology can also be used for cancer screening, which can be used to predict the risk of cancer by measuring the level of DNA methylation in the subject's blood.
In the field of disease treatment, gene therapy has always been a mysterious field and an important direction for the treatment of diseases.
DNA methylation can be used to assess the effectiveness of treatments, which can be used to assess whether participants respond to gene therapy and thus improve.
Overall, the results of this trial give us hope that not only for individuals, but also for humans as a whole, this technology can even help slow down the rate of aging in humans as a whole.
In addition to the impact of diet and lifestyle habits on human aging, there is actually another extremely important factor that everyone ignores, that is, mentality.
epilogue
A positive attitude also has a clear impact on the aging process, which has also been confirmed by many scientific studies.
Therefore, it is very important for people to maintain a positive and optimistic attitude during the aging process.
At the same time, we can also help with the aging process with some life hacks.
In daily life, you can eat more antioxidant foods, such as avocados, nuts, etc., which can help the body resist the damage of free radicals in the body.
At the same time, moderate consumption of some tonics, such as kohlrabi, crab roe, etc., can help the body improve the function of the immune system, thereby helping us delay the aging process.