Anirudh Ravichander is pure vegetarian, looks much younger than his age, though he loves ‘spicy Andhra meals’ and potatoes. Vegetarian food can make you look 10 years younger, says doctor

Ace composer Anirudh Ravichander has been in the news recently, thanks to his upcoming wedding with Sunrise Hyderabad co-owner Kavya Maran. While known for being one of the highest-paid composers in Kollywood, with films such as Jailer, 3, Vikram, etc., under his belt, the maestro is also known to be fit. He once wrote on X that he was a vegetarian. Back in 2012, he said he was a “pure vegetarian".

In a chat with Mashable India, he said he enjoys “Spicy Andhra Meals” despite being from Tamil Nadu and is a regular patron at National Lodge in Chennai, which is run by Telugu owners.

He also revealed that he loves potatoes cooked by his mother.

Can A Vegetarian Diet Make You Look Younger?

According to Dr Manu Bora, yes, a vegetarian diet can help you look ten years younger indeed (Anirudh is 35, yet looks considerably younger than his age). He explained that colourful vegetables such as spinach, kale, tomatoes, beans, parwals, etc., have a high amount of antioxidants and polyphenols which delay ageing by neutralising free radicals, which are unstable molecules that cause cellular damage.

Your body inherently produces free radicals during normal metabolic activities. Nonetheless, contact with pollution, UV radiation, and a poor diet can elevate their levels. When these unstable molecules surpass the body's supply of antioxidants, an imbalance referred to as oxidative stress arises. As time passes, this process may lead to early ageing and harm crucial cellular elements, such as DNA, proteins, and lipids.

He advised followers to have berries, lentils, avocados, flax seeds, almonds, and dry fruits like pistachios, which have a high amount of antioxidants. He said that if you need high-protein food, you can always have vegetables like asparagus, artichokes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, palang/spinach, etc. He also advised followers to steer clear of rice, flour and processed foods, as they have a high amount of preservatives which increases cholesterol and also accelerates the ageing process.

According to the Stanford Twin Study, which was published in the journal BMC Medicine and also inspired the Netflix docuseries

You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment.

The project examined 22 pairs of adult identical twins over eight weeks to investigate how different dietary patterns affect health. One twin from each pair followed a completely vegan diet, while the other continued eating a varied diet that included both plant-based and animal-derived foods.

The results found that the twins who had eaten vegan for two months had not only lost more weight but had also reduced bad cholesterol levels and also improved fasting insulin levels, the pace of ageing, which determines how quickly your biological age progresses in relation to your chronological age, also decreased by 0.03 units. A biomarker known as DNA methylation also revealed that the twins who had eaten a vegan diet had also reduced 0.65 years of their biological age.