(Clare Watson/ Science Alert) — Switching to a diet full of fresh veggies and low in processed foods could do wonders for your brain’s biological age, new research shows.
According to the international team of researchers who ran the study, eating a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables, seafood, and whole grains appears to slow the signs of accelerated brain aging typically seen in obesity with as little as 1 percent loss in body weight.
Brain scans taken after 18 months showed the participants’ brain age appearing almost 9 months younger than expected, compared to estimates of their brain’s chronological age.
Like the participants in the clinical trial, you might not feel as old as the years you’ve lived, or perhaps your body feels like it’s aging faster than you are – this is the difference between biological and chronological age.
Either way, research shows your body’s biological age is much more than a feeling: Signs of biological aging can be found dotted along your DNA, etched onto the ends of your chromosomes, or as this study suggests, in the loosening connections of your brain. (…)