Healthy dietary pattern and accelerated biological aging in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women: among different BMI statuses

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the relationship between a healthy dietary pattern and biological aging among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women in the United States, as well as this relationship among different body mass index (BMI) categories. METHODS: Among 4375 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010, we calculated the Healthy Eating Index-2020(HEI-2020) to assess the healthy dietary pattern. Phenotypic age (PhenoAge) was calculated with 9 blood biomarkers, including albumin, creatinine, glucose, C-reactive protein, lymphocyte percentage, mean cell volume, red blood cell distribution width, alkaline phosphatase, and white blood cell distribution, to measure biological age. Weighted logistic regression models, adjusted for covariates, were employed to examine cross-sectional associations between the dietary pattern and biological aging measurements. RESULTS: The total HEI-2020 score was not associated with accelerated aging, either in the overall population or across different BMI subgroups. However, regarding different food components, protein of seafood and plants (OR:0.76, 95%CI 0.62-0.94, P = 0.01) in the normal BMI group, vegetables (OR:0.72, 95%CI 0.58-0.89, P = 0.004) and whole grain (OR:0.90, 95%CI 0.82-0.99, P = 0.024) in the overweight BMI group, and vegetables (OR: 0.86, 95%CI 0.75-1.00, P = 0.051) in the obese group might be protective factors against accelerated aging. CONCLUSIONS: The total HEI-2020 score was not associated with biological aging in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. For HEI-2020 score of food components, protein of seafood and plants, whole grains and vegetables, and vegetables were associated with delayed aging for these women whose BMI was normal, overweight, and obese respectively. Increasing the intake of these foods may help them delay their biological age.