Your urine reveals your biological age and whether you will grow old in a healthy way, say researchers from Hasselt University and KU Leuven.
A urine test can measure a person’s biological age and determine whether someone is more susceptible to certain age-related diseases. This is shown by research by Hasselt University and KU Leuven together with international research partners. The results were published in the scientific journal The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
The researchers from Hasselt University and KU Leuven identified for the first time a group of protein fragments in urine samples that provide insight into the biological age of a person and the chance that someone will grow old in a healthy way. ‘Not everyone is biologically the same age as his or her chronological age. This is partly due to the impact of environmental factors or lifestyle’, says Prof. Tim Nawrot (UHasselt). ‘We now show for the first time that we can measure biological aging and determine the general health status of people with the protein profile in a urine sample.’
The blood in our body flows through all vital organs, carrying proteins or protein fragments in the process that reflect the health of organs and by extension the entire human body. Ultimately, these proteins can also be found in the urine.
‘By analyzing urine samples, we were able to find 54 protein fragments that reflect whether certain organs are malfunctioning, even at a stage when a person is still apparently healthy. You can call it a urinary aging clock,’ says Dr Dries Martens (UHasselt).
The researchers were able to link the 54 protein fragments in the urine samples to risk factors associated with unhealthy aging, such as high blood pressure, obesity, a predisposition to diabetes, an excessive level of fat in the blood, and with age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
A urine test can measure a person’s biological age and determine whether someone is more susceptible to certain age-related diseases. This is shown by research by Hasselt University and KU Leuven together with international research partners. The results were published in the scientific journal The Lancet Healthy Longevity. Researchers from Hasselt University and KU Leuven identified for the first time a group of protein fragments in urine samples that provide insight into a person’s biological age and the chance that someone will grow old in a healthy way. ‘Not everyone is biologically the same age as his or her chronological age. This is partly due to the impact of environmental factors or lifestyle’, says Prof. Tim Nawrot (UHasselt). ‘We now show for the first time that we can measure biological aging and determine the general health status of people with the protein profile in a urine sample.’ The blood in our body flows through all vital organs, carrying proteins or protein fragments in the process that reflect the health of organs and by extension the entire human body. Ultimately, these proteins can also be found in the urine. ‘By analyzing urine samples, we were able to find 54 protein fragments that reflect whether certain organs are malfunctioning, even at a stage when a person is still apparently healthy. You can call it a urinary aging clock,’ says Dr Dries Martens (UHasselt). The researchers were able to link the 54 protein fragments in the urine samples to risk factors associated with unhealthy aging, such as high blood pressure, obesity, a predisposition to diabetes, an excessive level of fat in the blood, and with age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
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