Not all organs age the same. ‘Older’ ones may predict your risk of disease

You’re only as old as you feel, so the adage goes. But new research suggests you may really be as old as your oldest organ. Scientists say they have developed a simple, blood test–based method to measure the speed of aging in individual organs such as the heart and brain. When an organ is substantially “older” than a person’s actual age, the risk of death and diseases related to that part of the body shoots up, the researchers report today in Nature . The team’s findings are compelling, says Daniel Belsky, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and consultant for multiple companies focused on aging and longevity. “They’ve produced at least initial data to suggest that … the measurements of organ aging they’re generating are potentially informative about disease processes.” But he and other researchers caution that much more work is needed before the method could be applied in a clinical setting. Aging is a key driver for some of the world’s biggest killers, including diabetes, heart failure, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. The number of years we’ve been alive—our chronological age—provides some information about our risk for these diseases. But to improve these predictions, scientists have tried to develop measures of “biological age” that better reflect our bodies’ wear and tear. These include monitoring chemical changes to DNA over a person’s lifetime...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research