Dietary fatty acids and epigenetic aging in US adults: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Fatty acids are involved in disease risk and aging processes. In the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002), we tested for associations of total, saturated (SFA), monounsaturated (MUFA), polyunsaturated (PUFA), and subtypes of dietary fatty acids with DNA methylation-based aging biomarkers, adjusting for age, BMI, total energy intake, and sociodemographic and behavioral factors (N = 2260). Higher SFA and MUFA were associated with greater GrimAge2, an aging biomarker of mortality; PUFA was associated with lower Horvath1, Hannum, and PhenoAge (p < 0.05). Omega-3 and the PUFA:SFA ratio were negatively associated with Horvath1, Hannum, Vidal-Bralo, and PhenoAge. Notably, a one-unit increase in PUFA:SFA was associated with 1.05 years lower PhenoAge (95% CI = -1.87, -0.22). We found consistent positive associations for SFA subtypes and negative associations for PUFA subtypes with epigenetic aging; associations of MUFA subtypes varied. Future studies, including randomized controlled trials, are needed to investigate causality and downstream clinical outcomes.
Authors
- Jamaji C. Nwanaji‐Enwerem (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0356-4867)
- Nicole Gladish (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6039-7001)
- Marta Guasch‐Ferré
- Belinda L. Needham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5939-2027)
- Saher Daredia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7906-4087)
- Dennis Khodasevich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1412-8251)
- Andrés Cárdenas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2284-3298)
- Hanyang Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3273-9777)
- Anne K. Bozack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-5767)
- David H. Rehkopf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7597-6513)
Institutions
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Harvard University (US)
- Palo Alto University (US)
- VA Palo Alto Health Care System (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Novo Nordisk Foundation (DK)
- Stanford Health Care (US)
- Center for Health Justice (US)
- New York University (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Aging
- Published
- 2025-12-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-025-00298-x
- Primary Topic
- Fatty Acid Research and Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Novo Nordisk
- Novo Nordisk Fonden
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities