This Breakfast Staple May Help Slow Biological Aging

Your morning yogurt may be doing more than helping your gut.

A new Japanese study found that older men who ate plain probiotic yogurt daily, improved their diets and exercised moderately showed signs of slower biological aging after just 12 weeks.

Researchers studied 48 overweight men between ages 50 and 74. One group followed a lifestyle program that included healthier eating, about 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least three times a week and 100 grams of yogurt containing the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum BB536 each day.

The result? Their biological aging rate slowed by an estimated 2.2%, according to a DNA-based measurement called DunedinPACE. (Read the study)

But before declaring yogurt the fountain of youth, there are a few caveats.

The study was small, lasted only 12 weeks and combined yogurt with diet and exercise, so researchers cannot say yogurt alone caused the change. The study was also funded by Morinaga Milk Industry, and its authors worked for the company.

Still, the takeaway is refreshingly simple: healthy aging may not require expensive supplements or complicated routines.

Plain probiotic yogurt, better food choices and a regular walk could be a surprisingly powerful trio.