Old Before Your Time? People Age at Wildly Different Rates, Study Confirms

We recently reported on a new study that found that older athletes have a strikingly young fitness age. Now add this to that interesting phenomenon: Scientists have now confirmed that people grow old at different rates, with some aging much faster than others.

After studying close to 1,000 38-year-olds, researchers at Duke University found that while most of the participants had biological ages close to their number of birthdays, others were far older or younger.

RELATED STORY: Cardiac Fitness Reduces Mental Decline As You Age

To calculate biological age, the researchers came up with a list of 18 biological markers. They included kidney and liver function, cholesterol levels, cardiovascular fitness and the lengths of telomeres, which are protective caps that sit on the ends of chromosomes. These markers were measured when the volunteers were aged 26, 32 and 38. Then the researchers saw how much the markers changed over time to produce a “pace of aging” figure.

For some of the participants, the past dozen years had taken no obvious toll on their body’s biology. However, that wasn’t the case for others. According to the study, a good number of participants had biological ages in the 50s, while one, described by scientists as an “extreme case”, had a biological age of 61 years old. That means for every birthday over the past dozen years, their body had aged three years.

The purpose of the research, according to scientist Daniel Belsky, is to highlight the aging in young people. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that ageing is really the cause of much of the disease and disability burden we face,” Belsky said. “Even before they develop age-related diseases, their physiology shows signs, and there is great variation in how fast people aged in the past 12 years.”

The researchers also found a correlation between biological age and how old one physically looks. They invited students to view photos of the study participants and guess their ages. The biologically older people were consistently rated as looking older than their 38 years.

The next step in the research is to sift through the lives of the participants to see how factors such as lifestyle, medical history, family circumstances, and stressful events might affect the speed at which people age. The ultimate goal is to target ageing instead of the multiple separate diseases that people are increasingly likely to develop as they age.

“As we get older, our risk grows for all kinds of different diseases. To prevent multiple diseases simultaneously, ageing itself has to be the target,” Belsky said.

Curated Article from The Guardian , PNAS
Photo Credit: Flickr