Snacking on peanuts is the latest way to slow the ageing process, with scientists at the University of Barcelona revealing this week that 25g — or a small handful — of the humble peanut can reduce the rate of cellular ageing. Officially a legume and not a nut, peanuts are known to hold a raft of health benefits, and for the latest study in the journal Antioxidants, the Spanish researchers asked 58 healthy young participants to snack on plain, skin-roasted, unsalted peanuts or a serving of peanut butter every day for six months to see if consumption altered their DNA.
During the study recruits provided saliva samples so that the researchers could check for any changes to the length of telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that naturally shorten with age and stress. Slowing down the rate at which telomeres shorten could help us to live longer, healthier lives. Results showed that the telomere length of the peanut group shortened at almost half the rate of those eating peanut butter, suggesting the whole nuts had a greater protective effect.
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“There is no such thing as a single superfood to delay ageing, but peanuts are one of the things we can add to our diet to stay healthy,” says Eli Brecher, a registered nutritionist. Here are the key foods that experts believe might improve longevity and slow the ageing clock.
1. Leafy greens
If you are still not eating spinach, kale, lettuce and cabbage, there’s another reason to pile up your plate with leafy greens — they help to slow age-related cognitive decline. Researchers from the Tufts University Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging found that older people who consume just one daily serving of green leafy veg, a rich source of brain-boosting nutrients including folate, nitrate, alpha-tocopherol, kaempferol and lutein, had a significantly slower rate of cognitive decline — equivalent to being 11 years younger cognitively — than those who ate the least.
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2. Citrus fruits
Rich in skin-supporting vitamin C that helps to fight age-accelerating free radical damage, and in age-defying phytochemicals, which Brazilian scientists at Londrina State University revealed to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, oranges, grapefruit and other citrus fruits are also an important source of fluid in the diet. In a review published in Frontiers in Nutrition, adding citrus and other fruits to the diet produced significant improvements in skin hydration and a decrease in fluid lost from the skin, both of which help to maintain a youthful complexion.
3. Peanuts
The recent study from the University of Barcelona, which found that snacking on peanuts can reduce cellular ageing, is not the first time that peanuts have been hailed for their anti-ageing effects. In 2015 Maastricht University scientists found that peanut-eaters were at a lower risk of dying early from cardiovascular disease, although again the same was not true for people who ate peanut butter. And an investigation involving more than 50,000 over-50s in the UK Biobank showed that eating a 30g handful of any nuts, peanuts included, every day resulted in a 12 per cent lower risk of them developing dementia in the years to come.
Brecher says that peanuts are packed with vitamin E and valuable minerals such as magnesium and copper, not to mention good fats, protein and dietary fibre. “Regular peanut, nut and seed consumption is linked to better weight management and reduced risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes,” she says.
4. Dark chocolate
There was welcome news from researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, Edith Cowan University in Australia and the Medical University of Vienna recently in the form of a study that showed dark chocolate is among the foods that might help us to live longer. The reason is that dark chocolate is a source of flavonoids, also found in tea, berries, oranges, apples and grapes. Consuming 500mg of flavonoids a day — the amount in a cup of tea, a few squares of dark chocolate and an apple — from a variety of sources was associated with a 16 per cent lower risk of premature death from any cause, the researchers reported in Nature Food.
5. Yoghurt
A dollop or two of yoghurt, a source of bone-supporting calcium and muscle-protecting protein as well as B vitamins and gut-friendly probiotics, for breakfast could pay dividends in reducing the risk of accelerated ageing. That was the outcome of a 2024 study of 4,056 people in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition. Scientists found that a regular consumption of yoghurt “may contribute to delaying the ageing process”. Yoghurt-eaters also weighed less on average, meaning they were less prone to obesity-related diseases as they aged.
6. Pistachios
A small handful of pistachios can positively affect cellular ageing and longevity, according to Spanish researchers reporting in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Poor diet choices can increase the rate of oxidative damage to DNA and cause telomere shortening over time, both of which are associated with accelerated ageing. In their study of people with pre-diabetes, the scientists found that snacking on just 57g of pistachios a day reduced oxidative damage. They also pointed out that pistachios are among the best food sources of the antioxidant lutein, which protects eyes from ultraviolet rays in sunlight, helping to prevent age-related eye issues.
7. Pulses
Eating two to three tablespoons of fibre and protein-rich peas, beans or lentils each week has been shown in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition to reduce the risk of colon cancer by 21 per cent, and in a Harvard study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition to lower rates of premature death from heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Now a team at the University of Florida suggests that a daily serving of mixed pulses will improve skin health in middle-aged women. Their trial, to be published in Current Developments in Nutrition, will involve 48 women aged 45-65 who will be given either mixed pulses or a control of white rice added to their daily diet for 14 weeks, during which time assessments will be made of skin changes. “We expect pulse consumption to reduce wrinkles … and improve skin elasticity,” writes Liwei Gu, the professor of food chemistry who is leading the research.
8. Turmeric
It is the biologically active compound curcumin in the bright yellow spice turmeric that is renowned for its health benefits in traditional medicine. Last year a review of evidence in the journal GeroScience suggested that curcumin has “powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant with great potential to impact on age-related cellular proteins”. Researchers from University of Medical Sciences in Tehran said that curcumin seems to have “a positive impact on slowing down the ageing process”, which is achieved by changing levels of proteins involved in the ageing process, such as sirtuins and AMPK, and blocking pro-ageing proteins in the body.
9. Tea
We know that tea drinking is good for us, but findings published in The Lancet show that as little as three cups of black, green or yellow tea a day could slow down biological ageing and extend your life. Scientists at Sichuan University in China analysed the tea-drinking habits of 7,931 adults living in China and 5,998 people from the UK and found that daily tea drinkers displayed signs of slower biological ageing, with those consuming three cups a day showing the most marked benefits. The researchers said there were no “substantial differences” in the anti-ageing effects of the different types of tea consumed but that people who stopped drinking tea appeared to show an acceleration in biological ageing. Put the kettle on.
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10. Wholegrains
Many of us don’t get the 30g of fibre daily recommended by the NHS to keep us healthy. Adding more wholegrains in the form of bran, barley, rye and quinoa in your forties and fifties will boost fibre intake and in doing so support healthy ageing — defined as the absence of 11 chronic diseases and a lack of cognitive and physical function impairments, 30 years later — according to a recent study of 47,513 women in JAMA Network Open. Refined and processed carbohydrate intake in middle age “was associated with lower odds of healthy ageing”, the Harvard researchers who led the study said.
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11. Berries
Berries were highlighted as an important source of flavonoids in the recent study in Nature Food journal. Professor Aedin Cassidy, a researcher in the field of plant nutrients at Queen’s University Belfast and one of the study authors, says that flavonoids in berries and other foods help to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation and support “blood vessel health and even help to maintain skeletal muscle mass — all of which are important for preventing frailty and maintaining physical function and mental health as we age”. Elsewhere, scientists at King’s College London and the University of Reading, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that eating 178g of wild blueberries daily for three months produced a host of health benefits including improved memory and brain function, lower blood pressure and faster reaction times in a group of healthy men and women aged 65-80.
12. Eggs
Eggs are packed with a host of beneficial nutrients including lutein, which helps to prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, and carotenoids and choline that support brain health. Eating eggs every week may help to maintain good brain function and memory. A 2021 study of people aged 50 and older from Loma Linda University in California showed that those who ate no eggs or only up to half an egg a week had the sharpest drop in memory over time and the worst memory performance at age 70-80, whereas those who consumed even 1½ eggs a week had significantly lower rates of cognitive decline.
13. Cherries
Tart Montmorency cherries contain potent compounds including polyphenols that may help to fight cellular damage and reduce the chronic inflammation associated with ageing and age-related diseases such as cancer, arthritis and heart disease, according to researchers from the University of Delaware reporting in Ageing Research Reviews. Another study in the Journal of Medicinal Food showed that shots of tart cherry juice improved the sleep patterns of older adults with insomnia, a condition known to accelerate ageing.
14. Apples
Could an apple a day keep ageing at bay? It may help more than you think, according to researchers from the University of Minnesota and the renowned Mayo Clinic, who discovered that the fruit contains a flavonoid compound called fisetin that helps to slow down the ageing process. After testing a number of plant compounds on ageing mice, the team found fisetin to be the most effective at reducing the levels of ageing cells, which they said might ultimately prolong lifespan. Fisetin is also found in strawberries and cucumbers.
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15. Beetroot
Drink a shot of juice made from this earthy root vegetable before exercise and it could have anti-ageing effects on your brain. It’s a claim made by Wake Forest University nutritionists in the Journals of Gerontology, where they showed that when older adults with high blood pressure consumed a beetroot shot drink before a 50-minute walk on a treadmill, their brains performed more efficiently, mirroring the efficiency of a younger brain. Beetroot juice is a concentrated source of dietary nitrate, which, once consumed, is converted to nitric oxide, a compound that increases blood flow around the body including to the brain. Adding physical activity, which itself delivers even more oxygen to the brain, is a winning combo. “What we showed in this brief training study of hypertensive older adults was that, as compared to exercise alone, adding a beetroot juice supplement to exercise resulted in brain connectivity that closely resembles what you see in younger adults,” said one of the study’s authors, Jack Rejeski, professor emeritus of health sciences.
16. Pomegranates
With ageing, our cells struggle to recycle mitochondria, their powerhouses, leading to a gradual degradation of muscle and skin tissues as years pass. But scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne discovered that pomegranates could hold the key to kick-starting the cell clean-up and recycling process known as mitophagy. They reported in Nature Medicine that compounds called ellagitannins in the fruit are converted by microbes in the gut to produce urolithin A, which induces mitophagy and improves muscle function.
17. Avocados
They have been shown to blast belly fat, but there are other reasons to eat avocados, including the fact that they could leave you looking younger. But forget avocado face masks, as consuming them is far more effective, according to Dr Zhaoping Li, professor of medicine and head of clinical nutrition at the University of California. Li recruited 39 women aged 27-73 for her study in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology and assigned them to eat an avocado daily or to stick to their regular diet. After eight weeks Li measured skin elasticity, firmness, pigmentation, hydration and oiliness, finding that the avocado group showed significant increases in elasticity and firmness compared with the controls. Li describes avocados as a “unique” fruit with fibre, fatty acids and phytonutrients that are beneficial to skin and general health as we get older.
18. Tomatoes
Lycopene is a potent antioxidant compound that gives tomatoes their red colour and helps to fight off damaging free radicals that accelerate ageing in the body. Heat breaks down the thick cell walls of tomatoes to make lycopene more available, so cooking them in soups and sauces provides the most. Adding a little olive oil also boosts the body’s absorption of the antioxidant. It’s worthwhile eating more tomatoes, as researchers reporting in Food Science & Nutrition found lycopene helps to prevent skin ageing, and others showed this month in Nutritional Epidemiology that lutein, a carotenoid in the fruit, has a profound positive effect on our biological age.
19. Prunes
Half of women and one fifth of men over the age of 50 break a bone because of osteoporosis, and the condition is the UK’s fourth biggest cause of early death, according to the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Dried plums, or prunes, contain bone-friendly minerals, vitamin K, phenolic compounds and dietary fibre that combine to boost bone health, and a study at Pennsylvania State University published in the journal Advances in Nutrition showed that eating four to six of them a day helped to slow the bone loss that leads to osteoporosis.
And finally, fluids — at least 2 litres a day
If you are not drinking 1.5-2 litres of water a day — the amount recommended by the NHS for the average healthy person — or otherwise staying well hydrated you risk ageing more quickly. That’s the advice of the USA National Institutes of Health scientists following a study, published in ebioMedicine journal, that analysed diet data on 11,255 adults over a 30-year period. It found that adults with higher serum sodium levels — which rise when fluid intake is low — showed greater signs of advanced biological ageing than those who were well hydrated. “The results suggest that proper hydration may slow down ageing and prolong a disease-free life,” said Dr Natalia Dmitrieva, lead author of the study.