What Happens To Your DNA After Just One Month Of Eating Vegan

Key Points:

• A new study published in MedComm found that after four weeks on a vegan diet, healthy adults showed changes in DNA methylation patterns associated with slower biological aging, as measured by one aging clock called PhenoAge.
• Researchers recruited 48 adults, randomly assigning half to a vegan diet and half to a meat-rich diet for one month, controlling calories to avoid weight loss effects, and analyzed over 800,000 DNA methylation sites to detect gene activity changes.
• The vegan group exhibited lowered activity in genes linked to fat processing and some cancer-related genes, alongside increased activity in genes related to longevity, cell repair, and immune balance, though most gene-switch findings require further validation.
• Biological age estimates showed a significant 1.7-year reduction in the vegan group on the PhenoAge clock, while other clocks gave mixed results, highlighting differences in what each aging clock measures.
• The study’s small sample size and short duration limit definitive conclusions, but it provides promising early evidence that a plant-based diet may influence molecular aging processes, prompting plans for longer-term research.