In a new study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, researchers from Stanford University and biological analytics company TruDiagnostic recruited 21 pairs of adult identical twins to investigate how eight weeks on a vegan diet affected these DNA methylation patterns.

Over the course of the study, one twin from each pair consumed an entirely plant-based diet while the other stuck to a healthy omnivorous meal plan. And by the end of the study, the twins who stuck to the vegan diet saw a significant reduction in markers of overall biological aging, as well as specific age-related markers in the heart, liver, hormone, inflammatory and metabolic systems.

"Distinct responses were observed, with the vegan cohort exhibiting significant decreases in overall epigenetic age acceleration, aligning with anti-aging effects of plant-based diets," the authors wrote in their study.