Jane Seymour OBE has no problem with ageing, she just wants to do it well. ‘I’m going to be the best I can be at the age I am,’ the former Bond girl and Medicine Woman says. To that end, she doesn’t do fad diets, arguing that: ‘If you think you are on a diet, you will lose track, you will cheat, But if you find healthy foods you really love that make you feel good, you never feel shorted.’ She does, however, have one simple eating rule. And new research suggests it can slow the biological ageing process.
Jane’s kitchen closes at 6pm sharp – all her meals are eaten before that time. ‘I just feel healthy that way,’ she says. And there’s science to support it.
Eating windows and brain health
This summer, a new study found that confining meal and snack times to a nine-hour window, thus avoiding eating for four hours before your bedtime, may help stave off cognitive decline in older age.
Participants, who were all older women living with overweight or obesity, appeared to improve their mental skills when they kept to this restricted, eight- to nine-hour eating window.
Eating early and biological ageing
There’s more. Another 2026 study, published in the prestigious journal Nature, analysed data from 14,012 adults to explore associations between eating rhythms and biological ageing – specifically of the body, heart, liver and kidneys. Eating your last meal of the day before 9pm was linked to a lower ageing risk for the body, heart and liver. The strongest protective effects were seen with meals eaten between 3 and 5pm for the body and heart, and 5 to 7pm for the liver.
‘Delayed first and earlier last meals remained significantly associated with body and liver ageing,’ they concluded.
The results were especially pronounced as we age. ‘The last meal’s effect on body ageing was not significant in individuals under 40 but was notable in individuals over 40,’ they concluded. ‘For example, in the 40 to 60 age group, participants who ate their last meal between 3pm and 5pm had a 62% lower risk of body ageing compared with those who ate after 9pm. Similarly, in the 40 to 60 and over-60 age groups, the risk of liver ageing was reduced for individuals who ate between 5pm and 7pm.’ Those over 60 who stuck to that 3 to 5pm window for their last meal had a 63% lower kidney ageing risk.
So Jane Seymour is on to something. Eat well, and eat early.