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Dr. Michael Snyder, geneticist at Stanford University School of Medicine and his team discovered what he calls “ageotypes” of the body, specific ways in which certain people age. People with different aging characteristics develop differently throughout life, experiencing aging according to distinct patterns. These create, in Snyder’s words, “very distinct profiles” that can tell someone a lot about how their body will change over time.
And, perhaps more importantly, these profiles can tell people how to take better care of themselves as they age.
Harvard research identified four types of aging.
The body ages at different rates, a phenomenon that doctors call “biological” age vs. “chronological” age. Take, for example, a chronologically 45-year-old person with a biologically 55-year-old liver, but biologically 35-year-old skin.
These effects are often the result of the individual’s lifestyle choices. It’s how doctors notice the aging effect that cigarettes have on a smoker’s lungs or the effect of weight problems on the heart.
However, the perception of the type of aging of the body is that each person is prone to biological aging in different ways.
A person’s aging typology defines how they will age, with some parts of the body aging faster or slower than others. “The way we think about it,” says Snyder, “is like a car. You buy a car and it gradually wears out over time, but some parts wear out faster than others… And that’s what we think we’re measuring here”.
As of October 2020, Snyder’s team has identified four distinct types of aging: people whose metabolic systems age faster, people whose immune systems age the fastest; people in whom the aging of the kidneys is the fastest, or the aging of the liver.
A classic “immuno-ager”, for example, might be chronologically 40 years old, with the immune system of a 42-year-old person and a metabolism that is biologically 32 years old. This person would probably remain slimmer in old age, but would also be increasingly prone to immunocompromise and related conditions throughout life. On the other hand, an elderly person with a low metabolism might maintain a healthy immune system while increasingly battling diabetes risk factors and weight as they age.
Applying these discoveries to treatment would consist of helping people understand what their bodies need as they age.
Although the research remains new, a person’s type of aging can be identified by studying blood samples for molecules produced as a byproduct of bodily functions. Different levels of chemicals can indicate whether, for example, the liver system has aged faster than the metabolic system. or vice versa.
Although it is far from a cure for old age, Snyder hopes that people can stay healthy longer once they can build their lives around the specific needs of their bodies.
So it would be good to have a new set of analyzes on the goals of the new year to see how your body ages, regardless of what age you are. Then, together with the family doctor (whom you should let read this article), look for a treatment that will preventively support that part of the body that ages faster, according to your genetic baggage.
And as the Harvard researcher says, nothing can beat the advice that doctors have been giving for generations: “At this moment, the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth from which we can always feed ourselves is physical exercise “.
2023-12-28 03:37:00
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