Klotho as a Biomarker of the Influence of Lifestyle Choice on Health

Klotho is a longevity-associated protein that operates both within the cell and also as a circulating signal protein. It is longevity-associated in the sense that upregulation increases life span and downregulation reduces life span in mice, but also in the sense that measured klotho levels correlate with health and life expectancy in human epidemiological studies. Klotho may largely operate by maintaining kidney function into late life, but researchers have found that it may also help brain cells resist the harmful effects of an aged environment. In today's open access paper, the authors make the interesting point that while epigenetic clocks are receiving attention as a potential way to assess the effects of lifestyle interventions on health and aging, there is in fact a great deal more existing evidence for the use of klotho as a biomarker in this context. Klotho may be a good enough reflection of the state of fitness, diet, and metabolic health to be used as a way to test compliance with lifestyle change in studies, or to assess the degree to which a given lifestyle change is in fact improving long-term health in any given individual. The Longevity Protein Klotho: A Promising Tool to Monitor Lifestyle Improvements With the global population aging, the number of people with multiple chronic health conditions has been rising because medicine still focuses on treatment rather than prevention. It is estimated that one in three people in the world lives ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs