This Twin Study Reveals A Shocking Benefit from a Vegan Diet

A new study on identical twins published on Sunday in the journal BMC Medicine found that eating a vegan diet for 8 weeks was linked to lower biological age measured by DNA methylation, compared to eating an omnivorous diet for the same period of time. This small randomized controlled trial involved 21 pairs of adult identical twins. The findings suggest that a short-term vegan diet is associated with epigenetic age benefits.

What did the study find?

Biological age refers to how well your organs function depending on how much damage they’ve accumulated over time. We all age, but depending on our genetics and habits we age at different rates. Two people at age 40 might have completely different organ health, and therefore biological age. In theory, a 40 year old with a lower biological age is healthier and less aged than one with a higher biological age. This age is calculated through a process known as DNA methylation, which is a sort of chemical change to DNA. This change, called epigenetic modification, alters gene expression, but not the DNA itself. According to the National Institute on Aging, measuring DNA methylation can help predict age-related health outcomes like chronic diseases, impaired cognitive function, and mortality.

In the study, one twin ate a strict vegan diet for 8 weeks while their sibling ate an omnivorous diet for the same amount of time. The omnivorous diet included between 170 and 225 grams of meat, one egg, and one and a half servings of dairy every day. It’s notable that this study involves identical twins because that controls for genetic, age, and sex differences while underscoring epigenetic modification based on diet. For the first 4 weeks, participants ate prepared meals while taking online nutrition classes that underscored balanced nutrients and minimally processed foods. For the second 4 weeks, participants cooked their own food. Participants also filled out surveys on lifestyle changes at the trial’s start and finish.

Is Being Vegan Healthy?

At the end of the 8 weeks, the authors performed an analysis to identify possible DNA methylation markers related to either a vegan or omnivorous diet. These results offer a glimpse of how diet influences epigenetic dynamics. The vegan cohort displayed a significantly slowed epigenetic age. The authors also note that the vegan group lost more weight than the omnivorous group, which could have caused DNA methylation changes. However, these findings are consistent with previous studies on plant-based diet and biological age.

While more research is need to understand even more about how a vegan diet influences the human body and what mechanisms are at play during that process, this small study is a step forward in unveiling these mysteries.