IS IT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO REVERSE AGEING?

 I would need a dietician and health coach to get me to adhere to this.

IS IT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO REVERSE AGEING?

Only copied the most relevant part.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

The study in question found that the subjects (men aged between 50 and 72) ‘turned back the clock’ on ageing by more than three years in just eight weeks following a healthy lifestyle regime. The lifestyle interventions prescribed were specifically chosen to target a biological mechanism called DNA methylation, which predicts biological age (the age of our bodies health-wise, as opposed to chronological age).

DNA methylation is the process that switches genes on and off, and controls the ageing process. When the system is working well, our epigenome, the ‘instruction manual’ for our DNA, tags genes to give them tasks to perform. But as we age, oxidation and other stressors cause damage in our bodies, leading to loss of cell function and failures in methylation.  In 2013, a UCLA professor called Steve Horvath revealed how changes in patterns of methylation can predict biological age extremely accurately. This system is known as the Horvath clock and was used assess how the health interventions used in the study impacted the health of participants.

SO WHAT’S THE SECRET?

The study participants were prescribed a detailed lifestyle programme covering diet, exercise, stress management and supplements for eight weeks:

SLEEP

An average minimum of seven hours sleep a night. We’ve written here and here about what we do to try to get a good night’s sleep.

EXERCISE

Minimum of 30 minutes of exercise per day for at least 5 days per week, at an intensity of 60-80% of maximum perceived exertion. This means you’re breathing heavily and feeling challenged by the exercise, but can still speak. We’ve written about the importance of getting breathless here

SUPPLEMENTS

Participants took two specific supplements to boost intake of phytonutrients, prebiotics and probiotics:

PhytoGanix, a combination of organic vegetables, fruits, seeds, herbs, plant enzymes, prebiotics and probiotics at a dose of 2 servings daily, divided. It doesn’t seem to be available in the UK, but it’s a powdered multi-vitamin supplement.

UltraFlora Intensive Care, containing Lactobacillus plantarum 299v at a dose of 2 capsules daily, divided. Again, not available in the UK but it looks like a fairly standard probiotic supplement.

STRESS REDUCTION

The study participants followed breathing exercises from the book Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson MD, twice daily. The Relaxation Response is a simple meditation technique:  once or twice a day for 10 to 20 minutes, find a quiet environment, sit in a relaxed position, eyes closed, and repeat a mantra – a word or sound – as you breathe.

DIET

The nutritional guidelines the study participants followed were very low in carbohydrate, and even beans/legumes were off the menu, which surprised us. We’re big fans of fibre-and-nutrient-packed beans/pulses and have always considered them integral to our age-well diets. Something to ponder.

Annabel also pointed out to me that there’s no mention of alcohol on this list! We’ve both cut our alcohol intake down to almost nothing recently anyway.

The dietary list also includes ‘methylation adaptogens’ such as rosemary and tea – anti-oxidant-rich plants which are particularly supportive of healthy methylation. I’ve linked to some of our favourite recipes incorporating the ingredients below where I can.

Each week:
3 servings of liver – 1 serving = 3 oz/75g. Preferably organic. Try our warm chicken liver salad 
5-10 eggs Ideally free-range, organic, omega-3 enriched. We love our recipe for kale and salmon frittata

Each day:
2 cups of dark leafy greens. •Measured raw, chopped, and packed. (I’m assuming that doesn’t mean eaten raw)
•Including kale, Swiss chard, spring greens, spinach, dandelion, mustard greens. This tamarind and lime green veggies recipe perks up green leaves no end.
•Does not include salad greens such as romaine, iceberg

2 cups cruciferous vegetables
•Measured raw, chopped, and packed
•Includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, rocket, kale, mustard greens, watercress, swede, kohlrabi, radish, Swiss chard, turnip.

3 additional cups colourful vegetables of your choosing (excluding white potatoes, sweetcorn).
1-2 medium beetroots. 
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) pumpkin seeds (or pumpkin seed butter)
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) sunflower seeds (or sunflower seed butter)

1+ serving methylation adaptogens, choose from:
•1/2 cup berries (wild preferred)
•1/2 tsp rosemary 
•1/2 tsp turmeric – turmeric fish curry recipe here
•2 medium cloves garlic
•2 cups green tea (brewed 10 minutes). How to brew green tea, here
•3 cups oolong tea (brewed 10 minutes)
6 oz animal protein
•Grass-fed, pastured, organic and hormone/antibiotic-free
2 servings of low glycemic fruit eg berries, apples, pears

General guidance:
Organic preferred over conventional
Stay hydrated
Don’t eat between 7pm and 7am. We’ve written about intermittent fasting here
Include “healthy” oils – Balance types of fat e.g. coconut, olive, flaxseed and pumpkin seed oil. There’s more on fats and oils here
Avoid added sugar/sweets, dairy, grains, legumes/beans
Minimise plastic food containers – this is interesting, but the study doesn’t say why.

The end result was “statistically significant” reductions in the biological ageing of cells of over eight weeks for the 18 participants in the treatment group, equating to being three years ‘younger’ by the end of the study.