# Stress, diet quality, and biological aging across the lifespan

> **NIH NIH R24** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2023 · $114,281

## Abstract

Abstract
Background: Psychological stress has a complex relationship across the lifespan with health
behaviors such as dietary intake and with rate of biological aging. These relationships may help
explain some of the important health disparities experienced by minoritized populations,
specifically Black women. Few studies have had the longitudinal data to better understand the
independent and additive roles of childhood and adulthood stress on biological aging.
Research program. As part of this diversity supplement, I will gain invaluable training in aging
research, focusing on understanding lifespan stress pathways of how stress and health
behaviors contribute to health disparities. I will utilize new data from the National Growth and
Health study. This is a biracial cohort of Black and white girls followed from age 10 to 20, and
then recontacted 20 years later in midlife. I will examine measures of adult and child stress
exposures, as predictors of both dietary intake, and secondarily, epigenetic aging. We collected
reliable dietary intake data across several timepoints, and have developed established and
innovative diet quality indices for both child and adult diet quality. In adulthood, we collected
DNA for epigenetic clocks. I will use a mixed effects model for longitudinal analyses, and
multiple regressions to test the cross-sectional outcomes. I will investigate the varying extent to
which childhood stress, adult stress, and cumulative lifespan stress predict adult outcomes
(dietary intake, epigenetic aging). I will also test race as a moderator for these relationships, and
test within racial group relationships. This study will bring new valuable findings to the small
existing literature on the relationships between stress, diet, and aging, and may help identify
periods in the lifespan for the most effective health interventions. This ten-month fellowship will
help me develop new expertise as a researcher in understanding longitudinal models of aging,
and how diet and epigenetic aging may play a role in racial health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10835831
- **Project number:** 3R24AG048024-10S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Elissa S. Epel
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $114,281
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2014-09-30 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10835831

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10835831, Stress, diet quality, and biological aging across the lifespan (3R24AG048024-10S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10835831. Licensed CC0.

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