Healthy Japanese Dietary Pattern Is Associated with Slower Biological Aging in Older Men: WASEDA’S Health Study

Abstract

Aging is the greatest risk factor for numerous diseases and mortality, and establishing geroprotective interventions targeting aging is required. Previous studies have suggested that healthy dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, are associated with delayed biological aging; however, these associations depend on nationality and sex. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns identified through principal component analysis and biological aging in older men of Japan, one of the countries with the longest life expectancies. Principal component analysis identified two dietary patterns: a healthy Japanese dietary pattern and a Western-style dietary pattern. Eight epigenetic clocks, some of the most accurate aging biomarkers, were identified using DNA methylation data from whole-blood samples. Correlation analyses revealed that healthy Japanese dietary patterns were significantly negatively or positively correlated with multiple epigenetic age accelerations (AgeAccel), including AgeAccelGrim, FitAgeAccel, and age-adjusted DNAm-based telomere length (DNAmTLAdjAge). Conversely, the Western-style dietary pattern showed no significant correlation with any of the examined epigenetic AgeAccels or age-adjusted values. After adjusting for confounders, the healthy Japanese dietary pattern remained significantly negatively correlated with AgeAccelPheno and AgeAccelGrim and positively correlated with DNAmTLAdjAge. These findings suggest that a Western-style dietary pattern is not associated with biological aging, whereas a healthy Japanese dietary pattern is associated with delayed biological aging in older Japanese men. Our findings provide evidence that healthy dietary patterns may have beneficial effects on delayed biological aging in older Japanese men.