Researchers have developed a new molecular test designed to calculate an individual’s “biological age” as opposed to their “chronological age.” They believe the test could lead to improvements in how age-related diseases are managed.
The study, published in Genome Biology, was a collaborative work carried out by researchers from King’s College London in the UK, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Duke University in Durham, NC.
Lead author Prof. James Timmons, of King’s College London, states that until now there has been no reliable way to measure how well a person is aging in comparison with their peers.
“Physical capacity such as strength or onset of disease is often used to assess ‘healthy aging’ in the elderly but in contrast, we can now measure aging before symptoms of decline or illness occur,” he says.
The researchers chose to base their test on genetic changes linked with healthy aging, rather than searching for genes connected with disease or long life. They discovered that the activation of 150 genes located in the brain, blood and muscles was associated with being healthy at the age of 65.
From this discovery, the team developed a formula that could determine how well an individual was aging compared with peers of the same age.
After testing the formula on a sample of people born at the same time, the researchers noted a wide variety of biological age scores, suggesting that an individual’s biological age is distinct from their chronological age.
Prof. Timmons told Medical News Today that what determined an individual’s biological age score was not related to lifestyle markers or associated with levels of exercise. Instead, the determining factor was something more fundamental to an individual’s aging process.
“What is interesting,” Prof. Timmons said, “is that with a good ‘biological age’ you may well cope with a poor lifestyle, and of course vice versa.”
The researchers noted a link between low scores in the new test and cognitive decline. This finding indicates that in the future, the mechanics behind the test could be used to develop blood tests to identify people at a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, signaling that they may benefit from early intervention.
In addition, the test could improve donor matching for older adults who require organ transplants, as well as reveal whether animal models of aging are useful for the testing of novel human anti-aging treatments.
Although the test offers insight into how healthy an individual’s aging process is, the study does not show how individuals can improve their biological age.
“We now need to find out more about why these vast differences in aging occur, with the hope that the test could be used to reduce the risk of developing diseases associated with age,” says Prof. Timmons.
Dr. Neha Issar-Brown, program manager for population health sciences at the Medical Research Council in the UK – who provided funding for the study – explains the importance of the research:
“Whilst it is natural for our bodies and brains to slow down as we age, premature aging and the more severe loss of physical and cognitive function can have devastating consequences for the individual and their families, as well as impact more widely upon society and the economy.
This new test holds great potential as with further research, it may help improve the development and evaluation of treatments that prolong good health in older age.”
While this new molecular test is unaffected by lifestyle choices, a test that determines an individual’s “heart age” relies upon them in order to make its calculations. Heart age is calculated by looking at an individual’s risk factor profile, including factors such as hypertension, obesity and cigarette smoking.
Recently, Medical News Today reported on a study that suggests three quarters of American adults have heart ages that are older than their actual ages, leaving them at a higher risk of cardiovascular problems.