By Julie E 
Photo Credit (Pixeels)
People age differently, as anyone who has gone to a class reunion can attest to. Some former classmates look exactly like they did when they were in English class in the eleventh grade, while others seem to have aged a century in a matter of decades.
A study released on Monday in Nature Medicine delves deeper into the molecular processes at play, providing a potential explanation for why we age differently and stoking the intriguing prospect that we may eventually be able to influence our own aging process through specific medication or lifestyle modifications.
However, research on what a team of scientists from Stanford University are referring to as “ageotypes” is still in its early stages. However, the work was hailed by outside specialists as a significant step in the direction of understanding aging.
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“Exciting studies like these provide the possibility of intervening more precisely, in line with the goals of precision medicine,” said Rachel Wu, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, who specializes in aging and was not involved in the new study.
Over the course of the two-year trial, the researchers monitored 43 healthy participants and examined blood and other biological samples to hunt for a range of molecular changes.
According to study author Michael Snyder, a professor and chair of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, “people are aging at different rates, but what’s equally or even more important is where you see they’re aging differently.”
In other words, where in the body does the aging process occur most frequently? They discovered that humans often fit into one of four ageotypes, or biological aging pathways: metabolic, liver, kidney, or immunological.
For instance, metabolic age may be more susceptible to type 2 diabetes as they age, according to Snyder. Immune-related diseases are more likely to occur in immune-agers because they may produce greater inflammation. It’s possible that certain age groups are more likely to develop renal or liver disorders, respectively. This study only looked at four major aging processes, but there are probably more, including cardiac agers who might be more likely to have heart attacks.
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While some study subjects were found to be aging in all four categories, others fit into more than one ageotype.
Snyder told NBC News that people become increasingly worried about aging as they age. Theoretically, people might actively try to influence their age if they are able to discover their unique ageotype and the rate at which they are aging.
UC Riverside’s Wu concurred. “It will be important to further probe how lifestyle factors may or may not interact with individual biological patterns in aging to develop more effective, tailored aging interventions across adulthood.”
“Imagine you see your [aging] slope going up a lot faster than the average group of people,” Snyder stated. “Maybe that’s a kick in the pants for you to exercise more, to take the stairs more and the elevators less.” Alternatively, a person whose ageotype indicates that their circulatory system is aging quickly could undergo further imaging to check for calcium accumulation in their arteries.
Would these ageotype therapies, however, result in fewer illnesses and premature deaths? The science is not advanced enough to demonstrate practical effects.
Snyder stated, “That’s the missing link.” However, when they changed their lifestyle, several study participants were able to slow or reduce aging signs, at least temporarily. What long-term implications that might have are unknown. Throughout the study time, some fortunate volunteers exhibited a slower-than-average rate of aging, but researchers are still unsure of what makes those individuals unique.
In a technical sense, everyone ages before they are even born; it’s a process that includes all developmental stages. Additionally, a variety of elements, including genetics and the environment, are involved.
However, the study contributes to the expanding corpus of knowledge about not only how we age but also why and possible intervention strategies.
There are now ongoing clinical trials that target the basic aging mechanisms that contribute to age-related disorders like Alzheimer’s.
According to Dr. James Kirkland, a gerontologist and the director of the Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, “there are medications and different types of dietary interventions and lifestyle interventions through which it may be possible to modulate some of these aging processes.”
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“But in order to apply those correctly,” he continued, “we have to know which people to apply which drugs or which dietary interventions in order to get the most bang for the buck.” Kirkland did not participate in this most recent trial.
“It’s fine to know you’re going to get a problem based on blood tests, but you’ve got to be able to do something about it,” Kirkland stated.
Indeed, there are already established strategies to lower the risk of illness and disability, such as quitting smoking, lowering excess weight, exercising frequently, and maintaining a nutritious diet high in fruits and vegetables.
Few people, however, achieve all of those objectives. Snyder believes that if lifestyle changes are catered to an individual’s ageotype, they may be more likely to be made.
“I think the information could help,” he stated. “It would give people motivation when they see their own increased risks.”