Photo: legadosolidario.unicef.org.co

Human aging accelerates between ages 44 and 60

A study on the molecular changes associated with aging revealed that humans experience two sharp accelerations. One at the average age of 44 and the other around age 60.

“We don’t just change gradually over time. We experience truly drastic changes,” explained geneticist Michael Snyder of Stanford University in the publication of the research in the journal Nature Aging.

The research showed that the mid-40s are a time of drastic changes, as is the early 60s. Snyder and his colleagues investigated the biology of aging to better understand what changes occur and how. In order to mitigate and better treat these conditions.

Also they followed a group of 108 adults who had been donating biological samples every few months for several years. They observed that in some conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease, the risk doesn’t increase gradually over time. But rather rises dramatically after a certain age.

During the research, they noted a distinct shift in the abundance of many different types of molecules in the human body at two distinct stages. Approximately 81 percent of all the molecules studied showed changes during one or both of these stages.

The changes peaked in the mid-40s and again in the early 60s, with slightly different profiles. The mid-40s peak showed changes in molecules related to lipid metabolism, caffeine and alcohol. As well as cardiovascular disease and dysfunctions in the skin and muscles.

Moreover the peak in activity in the early 60s was associated with carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism, cardiovascular disease, skin and muscle function, immune regulation, and kidney function. The first peak, in the mid-40s, usually coincides with the onset of menopause or perimenopause in women. Also researchers ruled this out as the main factor. Men also experience significant molecular changes at the same age.

“This suggests that, while menopause or perimenopause may contribute to the changes observed in women in their mid-40s. There are likely other, more important factors influencing these changes in both men and women,” explained metabolomics scientist and first author Xiaotao Shen, formerly at Stanford and currently at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

With information from Prensa Latina

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