Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s analysis on DNA methylation (reducing your bio age through diet and way of life) suggests we are able to, really, get youthful.
Initially revealed in Center-Pause on Medium on January 3, 2026
I’ve written elsewhere an extended overview of Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s e-book Youthful You: Scale back Your Bio Age and Stay Longer, Higher (Hachette Go, 2022), however I really feel that overview has not discovered sufficient readers, and so I’d prefer to reiterate a few of its factors right here.
This e-book is well-suited for these in center age, as it could take a while for us to search out our dietary footing in at this time’s informational area. Not solely that, however ladies’s metabolism and urge for food change throughout menopause, making it tougher for us to remain wholesome. So when I discovered Dr. Fitzgerald’s e-book on orthomolecular diet and learn how to reverse our organic clock by years in simply 8 weeks, I used to be thrilled.
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical or well being practitioner, and no a part of This Weblog, or the articles, web sites, and merchandise I point out and hyperlink to on This Weblog, is meant as skilled medical or well being recommendation, and shouldn’t be thought-about as such. Seek the advice of together with your physician(s) about beginning any course of remedy, taking any dietary supplements, or altering any (dietary, train, and so on.) routines. Observe that pure dietary supplements and even some meals might intervene with sure medicines. Additionally ask your physician(s) about potential allergic reactions you could have, together with cross-reactive allergic reactions. Some allergens may cause doubtlessly deadly anaphylaxis. Listed below are my Full Phrases and Situations.
It may be overwhelming to determine on a wholesome meals and way of life routine, which is why many youthful individuals fall prey to diets touted by celebrities. I shake my head when studying these suggestions. They are usually means off the health-compass needle, or removed from my very own preferences.
As an illustration, I don’t wish to eat an excessive amount of protein, preferring as an alternative to load on greens and fruits, as Dr. Fitzgerald recommends in each her Intensive and On a regular basis plans. The query then turns into which greens and fruits can be most useful, and learn how to embody them in appetizing dishes. Fortuitously, in her 684-page e-book, Dr. Fitzgerald contains many delicious recipes.
Whereas I don’t totally comply with the creator’s Youthful You Intensive and On a regular basis plans, her meals and way of life suggestions helped me fine-tune my very own.
I now stroll extra and provides extra hugs (sure, cuddling is essential). Plus, I transfer my physique with sluggish and quick dance strikes, along with calisthenics and a little bit of yoga.
By way of meals, I add extra onion to my avocado salads, embody extra broccoli and spinach in my meals, and eat blueberries a number of occasions every week, amongst different issues. I additionally make extra smoothies with strawberries and different berries and soy milk. I’ve salmon, smoked or baked, as much as 3 times every week. I add a number of lemon juice to my baked salmon and to salads. The record can proceed.
And, regardless of the oxalates, I eat beetroot frequently too, although a lot lower than Dr. Fitzgerald recommends for her Youthful You Intensive and On a regular basis plans.
Youthful You: Scale back Your Bio Age and Stay Longer, Higher is about epigenetics — extra particularly, about DNA methylation, the sort that helped individuals in a small pilot research led by Dr. Fitzgerald shave a median of three.23 years off their organic age in 8 weeks with the assistance of her Intensive program.
DNA methylation is a mechanism that provides a methyl group to DNA with out altering the DNA sequence. It solely controls gene expression by turning genes off (silencing them or turning down their expression) or on (activating them or turning up their quantity). A 3rd element of DNA methylation is demethylation, passive in cell division, when the brand new DNA strand loses sure DNA methylation marks, and lively when enzymes assist take away a methyl group from the DNA.
These epigenetic processes assist rebalance the physique. In doing so, they could even assist it heal itself, bringing aid from situations similar to autoimmune ailments and allergic reactions, since utilizing epigenetics to our benefit can reverse the organic age. Age is, after all, crucial threat issue of illness.
In response to information shared by the creator, individuals within the US stay a median of 79.3 years, however they’ll develop severe diseases earlier than that, at 63.1 years outdated, on common. So sure, age does matter, as many power situations develop as we become old. The great DNA methylation can both postpone — and even forestall — the onset of those situations or alleviate their signs.
Dr. Fitzgerald’s medical research was small, which presents issues statistically, however the outcomes aren’t any much less essential due to that. There’s some worth even in small samples. In spite of everything, research for uncommon ailments that make it to a part III medical trial are additionally small.
Dr. Fitzgerald performed her research on 38 wholesome male individuals aged 50 to 72 years. Eighteen of those comprised the intervention group, who adopted the Youthful You Intensive program for 8 weeks. Throughout the board, these individuals managed to take, on common, 3.23 years off their bio age.
That was for wholesome individuals. Because the creator remarks, if she had chosen volunteers with well being issues, their bio age reversal is more likely to have been even larger. Alternatively, because the creator explains, such volunteers would have wanted extra time on the Youthful You Intensive program for his or her our bodies to combat the inertia of power diseases.
Dr. Fitzgerald didn’t wish to introduce further variables on this first research, however then she did comply with up with a research of middle-aged ladies — between 46 and 65 — as properly, albeit with solely six ladies.
They decreased their bio age by 4.6 years on common, with one 62-year-old girl exhibiting a spectacular outcome: 11.01 years off her bio age! True, one other 62-year-old girl confirmed zero change, so we’re dealing once more with the scientific limitations of small samples.
That mentioned, the science is there in terms of the DNA methylation results of some essential micronutrients (nutritional vitamins and minerals), in addition to phytonutrients. As regards the latter, those studied from an epigenetic perspective embody:
anthocyanins, current in pink, purple, and blue vegatables and fruits;
catechins, current in inexperienced and black tea, darkish chocolate, berries, pink wine, and so on.;
curcumin, in turmeric;
diindolylmethane (DIM), which is a metabolite of a compound present in broccoli, kale, cabbage, and different cruciferous greens;
ellagic acid, present in raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, and different fruits, in addition to in walnuts, pecans, and almonds;
equol, a metabolite of daidzein, a phytoestrogen in soy meals;
fisetin, with the very best concentrations in strawberries after which apples;
genistein, current in soy merchandise, principally;
hesperidin, current in citrus fruits, principally;
lycopene, famously current in tomatoes, after which in carrots, watermelon, and rose hips;
quercetin, a typical flavonoid current in pink onions and pink fruits, similar to apples, berries, and grapes, together with citrus fruits, kale and broccoli, black and inexperienced tea, and pink wine;
resveratrol, famously present in pink grapes and pink wine in addition to in blueberries, cranberries, and dates;
rosmarinic acid, considerable in rosemary and different crops of the mint household, similar to sure spearmint varieties, sage, oregano, basil, and thyme;
silibinin, principally present in milk thistle after which in artichokes;
sulforaphane, famously present in broccoli and different cruciferous greens;
and others.
There are numerous different essential vitamins in crops, out of a complete of 10K+ recognized and 150 studied in additional depth, however Dr. Fitzgerald targeted on solely 22 phytonutrients and a pair of metabolites on this e-book.
As a practitioner of orthomolecular diet, Dr. Fitzgerald works with complete meals solely. Her strategy is thus totally different from many others within the discipline of orthomolecular drugs. Prior to now, well-known practitioners of practical drugs normally tried to redress biochemical imbalances within the physique by amping up the ingestion of sure micronutrients (nutritional vitamins and minerals, typically a single vitamin or mineral) or phytonutrients with potent dietary supplements.
As an alternative, Dr. Fitzgerald depends on DNA methylation to do the trick of restoring the physique to stability, with the assistance of three core helpers: methyl donors, methylation adaptogens, and way of life components. Methyl donors contribute to DNA methylation. Methylation adaptogens assist regulate DNA methylation, so it occurs in an applicable means on the proper spots. Way of life components are wholesome habits that result in balanced DNA methylation.
An important methyl donors are folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin B12, together with betaine and choline, after which just a few minerals (zinc, magnesium, potassium, and sulfur), another B nutritional vitamins, some amino acids, and omega-3 fatty acids.
DNA methylation adaptogens embody flavonoids like curcumin, EGCG, quercetin, and lycopene, among the many better-known ones, together with nutritional vitamins A, C, and D3.
Way of life components, or levers, as she calls them, begin with applicable meals, and go on to incorporate reasonable train, a wholesome intestine microbiome, ample restful sleep, meditation and different rest, and, sure, cuddling. The damaging levers are toxins, too little or an excessive amount of train, a foul intestine microbiome, extreme stress, sure medicines, and excessive blood sugar.
And now we come to the specifics of her two Youthful You plans, the Intensive program and the On a regular basis one.
The food plan in the Youthful You Intensive plan is a lower-carb, low-glycemic, and high-fiber meals routine, relying totally on greens — 7 cups a day — with the addition of wholesome fat and reasonable protein. It contains animal protein, ideally natural. There’s some fruit — 2 half cups a day — however except you’re vegetarian or vegan, no legumes.
The plan contains no grains, no dairy, and no gluten, and it does embody teaspoons of herbs, nuts (besides peanuts), seeds or seed butter, tea, espresso, and cocoa powder. You get 3 meals and a pair of snacks a day, in quantities that received’t make you hungry, and you retain a 12-hour fasting window between night and morning. She prescribes varied meals in what she considers to be the correct quantities.
The creator repeatedly warns about dietary supplements as unbalancing the physique slightly than serving to it, however then she does take a chapter to debate dietary supplements that could be helpful. She additionally appears to assume that there can’t be an excessive amount of of a wholesome meals. Nonetheless, I discover a few of her suggestions, similar to one to 2 medium beets per day on the Intensive plan or her quantities of liver, extreme.
From what I’ve learn, liver ought to be restricted to 1 portion every week, or else you threat vitamin A toxicity, and beets are excessive in oxalates, which may trigger kidney stones, together with digestive points, joint ache, fatigue, and different well being issues. Different meals, similar to maple syrup and yerba maté, can be detrimental to well being in extreme quantities.
Broadly talking, although, I like her selection of meals. She recommends twelve superfoods in particular quantities. These meals — the Dynamic Dozen, she calls them — embody inexperienced tea, turmeric, blueberries, rosemary, cruciferous greens, beets, eggs, natural liver, seeds, salmon, shiitake mushrooms, and spinach. Apart from these meals, there are a lot of others to select from.
The creator notes that adopting the Intensive plan for 8 weeks may cause fatigue and digestive issues, amongst different issues, because the physique adjusts to the dietary adjustments.
The life-style adjustments Dr. Fitzgerald recommends are simple to implement: for the Youthful You Intensive plan, a minimal of 5 weekly classes of thirty to sixty minutes of train with out working up an excessive amount of of a sweat (strolling briskly and dealing in your backyard will do), sufficient restful sleep, meditation (ten to twenty minutes twice a day), together with cuddling and different methods to spice up oxytocin.
In response to Dr. Fitzgerald, the Youthful You Intensive plan is greatest saved a few times a yr.
For the remaining time, she recommends the Youthful You On a regular basis plan, a extra relaxed food plan which, she cautions, might not reverse getting old however solely sluggish it down.
The On a regular basis plan contains legumes, complete grains (ideally gluten-free and never fortified with folic acid), and natural dairy. You can even eat sure candy meals like dates and maple syrup, and drink small quantities of alcohol.
In distinction to the Intensive food plan, the On a regular basis food plan contains solely 4–5 cups of greens a day. It additionally permits for 1 to 2 half cups of legumes — greatest soaked or sprouted. As for wholesome fat, there are solely 3 tablespoons of them on this plan in comparison with greater than 5 of them on the Intensive plan. Then there’s one each day cup of grains and as much as 2 each day servings of dairy. After which there are these beets once more, this time 3 per week.
There’s extra well being information within the e-book, together with the creator’s suggestions for girls pre-conception and through being pregnant. And there may be the fabulous recipe part already talked about.
I hope this text has been informative. For extra concepts on the way you could possibly change your life for the higher, I like to recommend you learn Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s e-book. However for those who don’t have the time proper now, right here’s my lengthier introduction to Youthful You: Scale back Your Bio Age and Stay Longer, Higher.
To a happier, more healthy life,
Mira
