- Researchers are always working to break the aging code to help people live a longer and healthier life.
- Previous studies show that various factors play a role over time, including life behavior and environmental factors.
- A new study provides more evidence of how the way of life and environmental factors influence the way in which we age, in particular the status of smoking, physical activity and living conditions.
For many years, researchers have been working to create the aging code to help people live a
For this study, the researchers analyzed medical data of almost half a million participants of the British Biobank To determine the impact of 164 different life and environmental factors on aging, age -related diseases and premature death.
“Our field has long deduced genetic studies that aging and lifespan must be more environmental than genetic, but we carried out at the start of our project that the study of the exhibition could give us the ability to test this directly in large population data “,” Austin Argentiri, PhDresearcher at the General Hospital of Massachusetts and the first author of this study explained at Medical news today.
During the study, scientists used a unique aging model called “aging clock” to help determine what environmental factors have the most influenced aging.
What is a “aging clock”?
“An” aging clock “estimates the biological age of a person based on molecular markers in their bodies, rather than their chronological age (how many years they have lived). Think about it as a stopwatch that measures how your body is aging internally, not just by counting the years. »»
– Austin Argentieri, PHD
“In a
“We used the proteomic aging clock in this current article because we wanted to identify the exhibitions that are important for aging, and we therefore decided that we would only select exhibitions associated with mortality and clock d ‘Proteomic age in coherent directions, “it is followed.
“If an exposure was associated with mortality and proteomic clock in different directions … then we would have excluded this exposure because it is incredible that an exposure can both increase the risk of mortality but slow down aging (or vice versa ). So, in essence, we used the proteomic aging clock to obtain a better feeling of biological plausibility for each of the exhibitions associated with mortality, “he added.
At the conclusion of the study, Argentieri and his team identified 25 lifestyle and environmental factors – 23 which, according to them, are modifiable – which were associated with mortality and proteomic aging, as well as aging biomarkers and to the main risk factors for disease.
- Cheese consumption
- Ease skin tanning
- Years of education
- Employment status
- Ethnic
- Frequency of feeling tired
- Use of the gymnasium
- History of financial difficulties
- Household income
- Physical activity
- Sleep hours
- Smoking status
- Type of accommodation (i.e. house, apartment, mobile home, etc.)
- Use of an open fire for heating
- Weight and size at 10 years
The researchers found that smoking, socioeconomic status, physical activity and living conditions were the factors that had the most influence on mortality and biological aging. Solidism alone was associated with 21 diseases, as well as socioeconomic factors and a frequency of fatigue with 19 diseases.
“This means that some fundamental aspects of our environment and our life could possibly have a deep influence on the question of whether we live a long healthy life. At a time when there is a lot of attention to the new trends in well-being of well-being, this reminds us that the return to the essentials may have the most important and the most strategic impact on the ‘Improvement of population health, “said Argentieri.
Overall, the researchers awarded 17% of the variation in the risk of death to environmental factors, compared to less than 2% explained by the genetic predisposition to 22 major diseases.
Scientists also found that environmental exhibitions had a greater effect on lung, cardiac and liver diseases, while genetic risk has always dominated to dementia And breast cancer.
“This (d) will issue that our environments and our lifestyle are almost 10 times greater to explain the risk of mortality than our genetic predisposition to the main causes of death. This means that we have the power to have a major impact on prevention of early mortality if we focus on improving our environmental and economic conditions. »»
– Austin Argentieri, PHD
“This research should give us all hope that aging is not entirely predetermined in our genes, but it is something that is shaped in our environments. This means that we have the power to take our own health in our hands by preventing not only lifestyle changes, but also through policy efforts and intervention aimed at reducing our exhibitions to harmful environments ” , said Argerieri.
Mnt had the chance to speak with Cheng-Han Chen, MDA certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the HEART structural program at the Memorialcare SADDLEBACK MEDICAL CENTER in Laguna Hills, California, about this study.
“This population -based study revealed that environmental factors – such as physical inactivity and socioeconomic factors – play a much more important role than genetic factors in the development of disease and early death. These results reinforce what we understand from important health implications of many harmful environmental exhibitions such as smoking. »»
– Cheng-Han Chen, MD
“Like most identified life and environmental factors are considered (being) modifiable, there is a great opportunity to reduce the global burden of the disease by approaching and improving these risk factors,” said Chen.
“The environmental factors of this study explained only about 17% of the variation in the risk of death. There are clearly many more unidentified risks to be resolved. Future research could use the techniques of these studies to study other possible environmental risk factors (such as chemical exposures) for their contribution to disease, “he added.
Mnt also spoke to Wael harb, mdA certified hematologist of the Council and medical oncologist at the Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, about this research. He said that quantification of the measure in which the modifiable factors have an impact on biological aging and premature mortality highlights the importance of preventive strategies.
“This study provides convincing evidence supporting long -standing understanding that the lifestyle and environmental factors play a crucial role in determining health results, often going beyond genetic predispositions. The conclusion that environmental exhibitions represent 17% of the risk of mortality, against less than 2% of genetics is particularly striking and highlights the significant potential of public health interventions. »»
– WAEL HARB, MD
“The next logical step would be to dive deeper into the specific mechanisms by which key environmental factors accelerate aging and contribute to the disease. Longitudinal studies focused on intervention strategies – as cessation of tobacco Programs, promotion of physical activity and improvements in socioeconomic conditions – would help to validate whether the modification of these exhibitions can indeed slow down organic aging and reduce premature mortality, “said Harb.
“In addition, the integration of multi -ordinary – genomic data, proteomicsAnd metabolomic -could offer a more complete vision of how environmental and genetic factors are involved, leading to more personalized approaches to preventive care, “he added. “It would also be useful to reproduce these results in various populations to ensure that the conclusions are largely applicable.”