As of: March 24, 2024, 9:22 a.m
By: Judith Braun, Maria Wendel
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A healthy lifestyle can slow down the aging process.
But there are foods that do exactly the opposite.
A healthy life usually leads to more than just better health: a balanced diet combined with regular exercise can slow down the aging process.
There are various nutritional recommendations that can help you stay young longer.
This includes, for example, intermittent fasting.
A primarily Mediterranean diet can also slow aging.
In addition, walking quickly in everyday life can prolong life.
However, there are also some things, especially certain foods, that it is better to avoid in order to stay young and fit longer.
Stay young through proper nutrition: Nutrients protect telomeres
Telomeres, which are considered markers of a person's biological age and play an important role in the aging process, are located at the end of the chromosomes as protective caps and shorten with each cell division.
Illnesses can contribute to shortening.
Therefore, proper nutrition is even more important.
As we age, the body has difficulty digesting lactose, which is found in milk.
Therefore, it is advisable to only consume dairy products such as yogurt or cheese in limited quantities.
© Alex9500/IMAGO
Butter, which many people always spread on their bread, has a high content of saturated animal fatty acids, which can promote inflammation in the body, increase cholesterol levels and therefore shorten telomeres.
Processed sausage and meat products contain a lot of salt as well as high amounts of saturated fatty acids and additives.
This combination can cause telomeres to shrink and age faster.
Eating fries can also speed up the aging process.
When deep-frying, the high heat produces a lot of trans fatty acids, which can negatively affect telomere length.
Participants in a study who ate more than three servings of highly processed foods per day were twice as likely to have shortened telomeres than those who ate a maximum of one serving of processed foods per day.
These foods include crisps, white bread, cakes, pastries, chocolate and ready meals.
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Nutrition tips for a longer life: You should also avoid these foods
Alcohol damages cells and at the same time deprives the body of fluids.
Both of these not only have a negative impact on health, but also make people appear older.
However, when it comes to alcohol, quantity and quality also matter.
Red wine, for example, contains resveratrol, a polyphenol that protects the skin by binding free radicals.
This allows the skin to age healthily.
If you want to look young for longer, you should also reconsider your coffee consumption.
Although coffee can be a real stimulant, it also increases the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which contributes to skin aging.
If you want your skin to stay firm and supple for a long time, you should avoid sweets.
The sugar it contains not only has an inflammatory effect, but also causes the skin to age faster.
The short-chain carbohydrates destroy the two proteins collagen and elastin, which normally keep the skin tight.
Dairy products can also lead to accelerated aging.
Not only do they promote inflammation in the body, but they are broken down into lactose during digestion.
This ultimately harms the body's own collagen production.
As we get older, the body also finds it more difficult to digest the lactose contained in milk.
Therefore, dairy products such as yogurt or cheese should not be consumed in large quantities.
It's not just the sugar contained in soft drinks such as lemonade that is harmful to health.
For example, cola also contains phosphoric acid, which is suspected of weakening bones.
Low bone density can in turn lead to bone loss, known as osteoporosis, and accelerate aging.
Salt can also have a negative effect on aging.
Too much salt can cause the face to appear puffy and dark circles under the eyes.
Foods such as ready-made sauces or chips that contain a lot of salt can cause water to be retained in the body.
In addition, the sodium it contains deprives the bones of important calcium and increases blood pressure.
However, salt should not be avoided entirely.
The salt can be balanced with potassium with yogurt, bananas or dried fruits.
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This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. It in no way replaces a visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about medical conditions.
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.