Key Nutrients Associated with Acceleration /Deceleration in Aging

by | Jun 26, 2024 | 2024, Aging, Recent Articles

Written by Chrystal Moulton, Science Writer. The top three nutrients contributing to accelerated/decelerated aging based on the weighted quantile sums index were copper (19.36%), alcohol (21.71%), and beta-carotene (21.60%) even after adjusting for covariates.

agingResearch has demonstrated that specific nutrients are negatively associated with depression1, cancer2-4, and other chronic diseases5,6 7. Thus, understanding how diet affects aging is essential to suggesting appropriate dietary nutrients to support healthy aging. Chronological age indicates one’s age as time passes. However, phenotypic age indicates clinical biomarkers from multiple systems that can determine an individual’s mortality risk. These clinical biomarkers are key factors in regulating the aging process among them diet is identified as an essential factor8. In the current study, researchers utilized information from the National Health and nutrition examination surveys to investigate the effects of dietary nutrient intake on acceleration of aging9.

The current trial was designed as a cross-sectional study utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2015-2018. Dietary information from the NHANES 2015-2018 was obtained using to 24-hour dietary recall interviews. Dietary intake used in this study was an average of the 24-hour recall interviews. A total of 38 dietary nutrients were analyzed in the study. Phenotypic age was calculated based on white blood cell count, average cell volume, red blood cell distribution width, lymphocyte percent, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, creatinine, C reactive protein, glucose, and chronological age. Phenotypic age acceleration was calculated using a linear regression model reflected as a difference between phenotypic age and chronological age. Negative phenotypic age acceleration values indicated a younger than expected phenotype age while positive phenotypic age acceleration values indicated accelerated aging. Linear regression models incorporated confounders including ethnicity, educational level, family poverty income ratio, age, sex, history of disease, exercise, diabetes, smoking status, drinking status, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and BMI. Multivariable linear regressions were used to investigate any associations between individual nutrients and acceleration in aging. Weighted quantile sums model was used to assess the cumulative effect a particular nutrient had on acceleration of aging with each increase in the intake of that nutrient.

Of 19,225 participants within the NHANES 2015-2018 cycles, 4692 were utilized for this analysis. Researchers found the overall weighted prevalence of accelerated aging was 65% in the total population. Researchers found that cholesterol, protein, vitamin E, alcohol, dietary fiber, potassium, copper, zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B2, vitamin B1, vitamin A, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthan were all significantly associated with age acceleration (P < 0.05). Specifically, participants with higher intake of the aforementioned vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants had a younger than expected phenotypic age compared to their chronological age, while higher intake of cholesterol was associated with an acceleration in aging (P = 0.029). After adjusting for confounders in a linear regression analysis, total sugars were associated with acceleration, while cholesterol was no longer a significant factor. Nonetheless, vitamin E, A, B1, B2, B6, K, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium, beta-carotene, protein, dietary fiber, and alcohol remained a significant factor in age acceleration/deceleration (P <0.05). Nonlinear associations [weighted quantile sums], demonstrated 5 nutrients that both accelerate and decelerate aging based on dietary intake quantity. These were caffeine, total sugars, alcohol, vitamin C, and vitamin K. In other words, at certain intake levels of these 5 nutrients, researchers observed a decrease in the risk of accelerated aging. However, at a certain point in a logarithmic model, higher intakes would increase the risk of accelerated aging. Furthermore, weighted quantile sums of mixed dietary nutrients [log transformed] intakes showed a negative association with accelerated aging (p= 0.003). Also, the top three nutrients contributing to accelerated/decelerated aging based on the weighted quantile sums index were copper (19.36%), alcohol (21.71%), and beta carotene (21.60%) even after adjusting for covariates.

Overall, researchers identified 16 dietary nutrients that were negatively associated with accelerated aging through this analysis. They also identified 5 nutrients that had a nonlinear association with accelerating aging [caffeine, alcohol, vitamin K, total sugars, and vitamin C]. Additional studies will be needed to verify these findings.

Source: Ma, Jianhua, Pingan Li, Yue Jiang, Xinghua Yang, Yanxia Luo, Lixin Tao, Xiuhua Guo, and Bo Gao. “The Association between Dietary Nutrient Intake and Acceleration of Aging: Evidence from NHANES.” Nutrients 16, no. 11 (2024): 1635.

© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).

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Posted June 26, 2024.

Chrystal Moulton BA, PMP, is a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. She graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology with a focus on premedical studies and is a licensed project manager. She currently resides in Indianapolis, IN.

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