Study finds blood protein levels can predict our biological age. It also appears that our bodies age in three distinct cycles.
Imagine that a simple blood test could tell you your true age? We are not there yet, but a new step in this direction has just been taken. Researchers have examined the levels of approximately 3,000 proteins inside the plasma – the fluid, cell-free part of the blood – of more than 4,200 people s aged 18 to 95. They then isolated 1379 whose levels could vary with age.
The researchers also found that significant changes occurred in the levels of 373 of these proteins . Instead of steadily increasing or decreasing – or remaining the same throughout life – these tend instead to remain constant for a period of time before undergoing sudden changes up or down.
These changes, the researchers found, occur around age 34, of 60 years and 78 years old . In other words, aging is not a long and continuous process. It actually seems to break down into three cycles quite distinct.
“We have known for a long time that measuring certain proteins in the blood can give you information about a person's health status – lipoproteins for the cardiovascular health, for example , explains Tony Wyss-Coray, of Stanford University (United States) and lead author of the study. But it's never been appreciated that so many different protein levels – roughly a third of all we looked at – change dramatically with age .
Based on these findings, researchers hope to one day be able to develop a blood test that can identify people who are aging faster than normal, or those who are at risk increased age-related diseases.
Eventually, it may also be possible to track your aging process at the cellular level in real time. You could then determine, for example, which drinks or foods are beneficial to you, or which on the contrary make you age faster. By knowing this information, you could then adjust your lifestyle.
Details of this work have been published in the journal Nature Medicine.
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