Feeling old? Scientists reveal when the aging process begins: It’s earlier than you think
Researchers have revealed when the ageing process truly begins in human beings.
Back pain? Need stronger glasses? Do you make a noise when you have to get out of a chair? You might be getting old...
Well, a new study has identified a potential turning point in the human aging process, where key biological systems appear to decline more rapidly.
Published in the journal Cell, the research examined heart, liver, pancreas, spleen, lung, skin, and muscle tissues from 76 donors aged 14 to 79, revealing that the body experiences a noticeable uptick in age-related changes starting at 50-years-old.
Researchers focused on what are known by people in white lab coats as proteomic changes — the patterns of proteins in cells that tell us how tissues are functioning — and found that organs such as the aorta, pancreas, and spleen undergo accelerated changes around the 45–55 age range.
The study suggests that this period may give rise to a significant shift in how the body ages, with some tissues showing signs of wear earlier than others. For example, the adrenal glands, which help regulate hormones and stress, began showing signs of aging as early as 30 in some individuals.
“This is just a beautiful roadmap that gives us an initial overview of organ aging,” said Neville Sanjana, associate professor of biology, neuroscience and physiology at New York University and a faculty member at the New York Genome Center. “To me, that’s exciting,” he enthused.
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“This kind of data generation is so powerful for folks who want to do things like bioengineering and creating new kinds of therapies to restore healthy aging. Starting at 45 to 50, you could gain as much as 10 years of healthy life and this study just shows the truth of that at a cellular level,” he said.
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