Jean-Benoit Legault, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — A new study conducted entirely in Quebec sheds unprecedented light on the association between diet and aging, and opens up avenues for better understanding how what we eat can contribute to “aging well”.
Essentially, the researchers summarize, a diet that is both diverse and moderate offers the best chance of healthy aging.
“This type of study will allow us to dig much deeper and really have a more specific vision of what is happening with our body as we age and in relation to food,” summed up Pierrette Gaudreau, who is Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal and Director of the Quebec Network for Research on Aging.
Supported by Australian colleagues, researchers from the universities of Laval, Sherbrooke and Montreal, and the University Institute of Geriatrics of Montreal, analyzed data from 1,560 seniors aged 67 to 84 who participated in the Nature study. All were in good health at the start of the study and were taking medication at most for common health problems.
The participants were randomly selected between November 2003 and June 2005 in the regions of Montreal, Laval and Sherbrooke. They were examined annually for three years and then followed for four years to examine the impact of diet on the aging process.
More specifically, the researchers studied certain markers in the blood of the participants (such as, for example, creatinine which is a marker of kidney function) and the difference which separated the individual participants from the average of the cohort. Associations were then established with the diet of the subjects, whether macronutrients such as proteins, sugars or fat, or micronutrients such as vitamin C or vitamin E.
“We are playing with data sets that are very, very large and it requires very sophisticated statistical analyzes to be able to identify new associations between what the elderly can eat and their dysregulation at the physiological level as seen by markers” , explained Ms. Gaudreau.
She cites as an example vitamin E, which plays a very important antioxidant role in the body. The researchers found that, among study participants, consuming vitamin E regarding 1.5 times higher than what is recommended by international health bodies had “a beneficial effect on aging well”.
Similarly, consuming slightly more protein or sugars than recommended had no deleterious effects, as long as it was done in the context of a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.
“You have to remember all the nuance between ‘a little more’ then ‘a lot more’, underlined Ms. Gaudreau. One finding from that study is that when we deviate from normal for our age―when we deviate a little bit, but we stay within limits that aren’t extreme―even in terms of macronutrients like proteins, sugars and lipids, we have no dramatic effect.
On the other hand, she continues, if we go to extremes, “for example, if we eat a lot more sugar, or really not enough, we found that there were adverse effects for physiological dysregulation in our elderly participants. “.
“What we found overall is that diversity in food at the meal level and then moderation ― you can binge a little bit once in a while ― but those two factors- combined there, so diversity of food and moderation in the diet, it means that we have a good chance of living healthier, ”added the researcher.
At one end of the scale, said Ms. Gaudreau, we find seniors who, in addition to being protected by excellent genes, have exemplary lifestyles; at the other end are the elders who have been less favored by the genetic lottery and whose way of life leaves something to be desired.
“And then in between, there’s a large majority of older people who have not-so-worse genes and not-so-worse diets,” she said. So if we can influence a little bit on lifestyle and on factors that are modifiable determinants… Our genetic baggage, we can’t modify it, but lifestyle habits, we can do it and we can do it at any age and it has beneficial effects at any age.”
The findings of this study were published by the journal BMC Biology.