Carb Diet Improved Biological Age in Older Adults After 4 Weeks

Key Points:

• A four-week randomized controlled trial involving adults aged 65 to 75 found that a higher-carbohydrate omnivorous diet led to the most significant improvement in a calculated biological age score, challenging the common preference for low-carb diets in longevity culture.
• Participants were assigned to one of four diets: omnivorous high-fat, omnivorous high-carbohydrate, semi-vegetarian high-fat, or semi-vegetarian high-carbohydrate, with all food provided during the study.
• Biological age was assessed using 20 biomarkers, and the higher-carb omnivorous group showed a significant reduction in biological age compared to the high-fat omnivorous group, while the latter showed no meaningful change.
• Researchers caution that these changes may reflect short-term physiological responses rather than true alterations in aging processes, and longer-term studies are needed to determine if diet changes affect lifespan or age-related disease risk.
• The study highlights that diet quality and macronutrient balance can influence measurable health markers even in older adults, with semi-vegetarian diets also showing some improvement, though with less statistical certainty.