Eating too much sugar may accelerate cellular aging

A nutrient-rich diet with few added sugars may slow rates of biological aging in women, new research suggests.

In a new study, published Monday (July 29) in the journal JAMA Network Open, scientists found that middle-aged women who ate more foods packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants had "younger-looking" cells than those who consumed less nutrient-rich diets.

They judged the youthfulness of cells by looking at chemical tags, known as methyl groups, on the surface of DNA molecules. These tags tweak the activity of specific genes without altering the underlying DNA code — a process known as epigenetic modification. The pattern of these methyl groups changes as we age, which is believed to contribute to accelerated cellular aging.

While nutrient-rich diets were tied to slowed aging, added sugars seemed to dampen the effect.

Related: Short-term vegan diet may slow aging, but questions remain

In the study, women who consumed higher amounts of added sugars showed signs of hastened cellular aging compared to others, even if they ate an otherwise Healthy diet, the researchers found. "Added sugars" refers to sugars that are added to food during production, such as those in sugar-sweetened drinks and baked goods, as opposed to the naturally occuring sugars found in milk, fruits and vegetables.

The new study is one of the first to demonstrate a link between added sugar consumption and so-called epigenetic aging, the authors said. It is also the first to investigate this association in both Black and white women in midlife, they noted. The participants were 39 years old, on average.