Research has shown that there are four types of aging. Each of them allows you to determine which physiological system in the human body "wears out" the fastest. Using this information, doctors could develop personalized treatments.
Some people in their 60s still have a healthy heart but suffer from kidney disease. Some people in their 30s, despite having healthy kidneys, often suffer from infectious diseases. Why is the aging process so different from person to person? A recent study showed that there are four different "types of aging" in the human body: immune, renal, hepatic, and metabolic, according to a Live Science article. The results of the study were published in the British journal Nature Medicine. The article notes that the type of human aging depends on which physiological system in his body “wears out” the fastest. One day, doctors will be able to use this information to recommend lifestyle changes to patients and develop personalized treatments.
Scientists have identified four different types of aging in the body
According to a recent study, scientists studied blood, genetic material, proteins and other metabolic products of 43 participants for two years. During the observations, about 600 so-called "markers of aging" were identified, the values of which can be used to predict the functionality of some organs and to estimate their "biological age".
The research team divided 43 participants into groups and identified four different types of aging: immune, renal, hepatic, and metabolic. According to the degree of aging of the biological systems of the subjects, some people fall into one category, while others may meet the criteria of all four.
For example, more inflammatory markers have been found in people with immune-type aging; people with the metabolic type have elevated blood sugar levels, which indicates a decrease in the efficiency of glucose metabolism in their body. The authors of the study also found that several types of aging can be combined during the aging process.
Study leader Michael Snyder, a professor in the department of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, said scientists used to collect markers of aging from huge demographic data. Researchers identified markers of aging by comparing data from young people with data from older people, but such data could only judge the state of the body at a certain time, but not in any way reveal its changes with age. This means that demographic markers of aging may not be the best criteria for characterizing the aging process of patients and which treatments are most effective for them.
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With this in mind, Snyder's team hoped to identify differences in markers of aging in individuals by tracking how performance changed in certain groups of people over time. The age of the participants in the experiment ranged from 29 to 75 years old, each of them had at least five biological samples taken over two years. After analyzing the data, these four types of aging were identified.
“There may be other types,” Snyder said.
He explained that, for example, one of the subjects belonged to the cardiovascular type of aging. This means that his heart muscle "wore out" faster than other organs. “As research deepens, new types of aging are likely to be identified,” said Michael Snyder. “If we study a thousand people, I’m sure there will be other people with cardiovascular aging, so we can better understand the characteristics of this type.”
Research findings will help develop personalized treatments
Snyder's team will continue to monitor the subjects to see how their bodies change over time as they age. They also plan to develop an easy way to identify the type of aging so that doctors can quickly assess the health of patients in their office and develop an optimal treatment plan.
James Kirkland, director of the Mayo Clinic, one of the world's premier aging research centers, was not involved in the study. He said: “It may be possible to slow down the aging process with some medicines, diet and lifestyle choices. However, first we need to know which medications are right for certain groups of people, or which types of diets will be most effective."
While drugs, diet and exercise can slow some signs of aging, some markers of aging are not fully understood, the researchers note.
For example, 12 participants in the Snyder experiment had lowered markers of renal failure, 8 of whom were taking statins. This type of marker is a kind of "waste" called creatinine, which accumulates in the blood during the self-destruction of muscle tissue, but the kidneys filter this substance and then excrete it from the body in the urine. The decrease in creatinine levels in eight people on statins suggests that the drugs improve kidney function. However, it is not clear why this decline is seen in the other four.
The researchers also found that the concentration of certain microorganisms changes with age, but it is not clear how this affects health. From Snyder's point of view, some microorganisms multiply due to age-related changes in the body, while others can contribute to these changes.
In addition, the researchers found that there are differences between the aging patterns of diabetic and pre-diabetic patients, as well as those who are insulin sensitive. Many studies show that insulin plays an important role in the aging process throughout the animal kingdom. However, more research is needed to identify the effects of insulin on aging in the human body.
According to Snyder, in the near future, the types of aging may become a key indicator of how well people take care of those organs that age faster. For example, adherents of the cardiovascular type of aging will be able to focus on improving the health of the cardiovascular system and, when undergoing a medical examination, pay more attention to the state of the organs of this system.
“As we learn about these patients, we will be able to better monitor the aging process of people and understand what measures they have taken to slow this process,” - said Snyder.
Liu Xia