A new study has suggested going vegan could see a reduction to people's biological ages across several parts of the body.
A short-term vegan diet has been linked with 'reductions to biological age estimates', US researchers say, after 21 pairs of twins were given either an omnivorous or vegan diet over eight weeks.
The omnivorous diet included between 170 and 225 grams of meat, one egg, and one and a half servings of dairy each day.
The study found the twins who ate vegan diets had reductions in their biological age estimates.
At the end of the study the team found those who ate vegan to have lower ages to their hearts, hormones, livers and inflammatory and metabolic systems, which was not found in those eating an omnivorous diet.
'Diets weren't matched'
Registered Nutritional Therapist Heather Leeson told Lunchtime Live she believes eight weeks isn't long enough to make such conclusions.
"In nutritional terms that really doesn't give us much information on diet," she said.
"It was tiny, [with] just 42 people; so it's an interesting headline but actually I'm not sure it really holds up.
"The other point is that the diets weren't really matched - the vegan diet was less in calories and both people were asked to eat twice as much veg, twice as much fruit and more legumes, nuts and seeds.
"So eating those healthier foods, whether you're following a vegan diet or not, is going to help your health."
'Eating more plant-based foods'
Ms Leeson said a weight loss element, which saw those on the vegan diet lose two kilograms more than the others, didn't surprise her.
"The vegans even in the eight weeks lost two kilos on average, so that was why for example their cardiovascular markers improved," she said.
"[It was] not necessarily related to the vegan side of things.
"The vegan diet... is much higher in fibre - you're going to be eating more plant-based foods.
"They're going to help those risk factors anyway whether you're a vegan or not."
Downsides
Ms Leeson said there are some potential downsides to a vegan diet.
"You're a little bit more at risk of nutritional deficiencies - things like Iron and B12 - because they are more readily available in foods like meat," she said.
"They're easy ones to check.
"If anyone listening is considering following a vegan diet or is already following a vegan diet they should definitely have those checked".
Ms Leeson added that Zinc, Omega 3 and Calcium levels also need to be watched carefully.
The findings are published in the journal BMC Medicine.
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