Food for healthier aging: power on your plate

Abstract

Inflammageing is a persistent low-level inflammatory burden that accompanies age-related dysregulation of the immune system during normative aging and within the diseasome of aging. A healthy diet containing a balanced amount of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals, adequate in calories and rich in poly(phenols), has an essential role in mitigating the effects of inflammageing and extending healthspan through modulation of the activity of a range of factors. These include transcription factors, such as nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-kB), the inflammasome and the activities of the gut microbiota. The aim of this narrative review is to discuss the potential of food to ameliorate the effects of the diseasome of aging.

Keywords:

• Food
• inflammageing
• inflammation
• nutrition
• senescence

Disclosure statement

P.S. is on the scientific advisory boards of REATA, AZ, Baxter Healthcare and Vifor. P.G.S. is in receipt of an Industrial PhD Partnership between the University of Glasgow and 4 D Pharma. He is a Scientific reviewer for Mars UK Ltd. D.M., S.A.U., N.A.B. and L.F.M.F.C. declare no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

All authors whose names appear on the submission have made substantial contributions to this manuscript and have approved the submitted version.

Ethics approval

Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, grant no. 200162/2020-9) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, grant no. E-26/202.24/2019).