Lifestyle changes ‘reverse ageing’
Tuesday September 17th, 2013
Positive lifestyle changes could help to reverse ageing at a cellular level, according to a new US study.
In
a small study of men being treated for prostate cancer, researchers at
the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and the University of California,
San Francisco, found that those who adopted lifestyle changes experienced
a slowing down of the deterioration of cells that indicate biological
ageing.
The length of their telomeres – DNA-protein complexes that protect the ends of chromosomes and indicate biological age – increased when they adopted a whole foods plant-based diet, moderate exercise, stress management techniques, and had access to greater social support.
As telomeres become shorter and their structural integrity weakens, the cells age and die more quickly. Shorter telomeres are associated with an increased risk of premature death and age-related diseases, including many forms of cancer, heart disease, vascular dementia, obesity, stroke, osteoporosis, infectious diseases, and diabetes.
The study, published in The Lancet Oncology, saw a group of 10 men being asked to make the lifestyle changes, while a control group of 25 were not asked to make any changes to their lifestyle.
Using state-of-the-art scientific measurement techniques, the researchers measured the length of the participants' telomeres at the start of the study, and again after 5 years.
In the group who made comprehensive lifestyle changes, telomere length increased by an average of 10%, but in the control group, telomere length decreased by an average of 3%.
They also discovered that the more positive lifestyle changes that were made, the greater their telomeres increased in length.
Professor Dean Ornish, of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and the University of California, said: “So often people think ‘Oh, I have bad genes, there’s nothing I can do about it, but these findings indicate that telomeres may lengthen to the degree that people change how they live. Research indicates that longer telomeres are associated with fewer illnesses and longer life.
“The implications of this relatively small pilot study may go beyond men with prostate cancer.
“If validated by large-scale randomised controlled trials, these comprehensive lifestyle changes may significantly reduce the risk of a wide variety of diseases and premature mortality. Our genes, and our telomeres, are a predisposition, but they are not necessarily our fate.”
Although the study was not designed to detect the effects of lifestyle changes on the participants' prostate cancer, an earlier randomised controlled trial by the same group of researchers showed that positive lifestyle interventions may delay the progression of early stage prostate cancer.
Ornish D, Lin J et al. Effect of comprehensive lifestyle changes on telomerase activity and telomere length in men with biopsy-proven low-risk prostate cancer: 5-year follow-up of a descriptive pilot study. Lancet. 17th September 2013. [abstract]
Tags: Diet & Food | Elderly Health | Fitness | Genetics | North America
Printer friendly page