- 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
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
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.
Ketogenic diets, once primarily used by people with epilepsy to reduce seizures, are popular for weight loss. The thinking behind
This approach is somewhat
Obesity is linked to a
When someone’s biological age is higher than their chronological age, they are susceptible to
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.
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.”
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).”
