via Futurism
Genes that could help explain why some people age at different rates to others have been identified by scientists.
The international study using genetic data from more than a million people suggests that maintaining healthy levels of iron in the blood could be a key to ageing better and living longer.
The findings could accelerate the development of drugs to reduce age-related diseases, extend healthy years of life and increase the chances of living to old age free of disease, the researchers say.
Biological ageing
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Germany focused on three measures linked to biological ageing – lifespan, years of life lived free of disease (healthspan), and being extremely long–lived (longevity).
Biological ageing – the rate at which our bodies decline over time – varies between people and drives the world’s most fatal diseases, including heart disease, dementia and cancers.
Data analysis
The researchers pooled information from three public datasets to enable an analysis in unprecedented detail. The combined dataset was equivalent to studying 1.75 million lifespans or more than 60,000 extremely long-lived people.
The team pinpointed ten regions of the genome linked to long lifespan, healthspan and longevity. They also found that gene sets linked to iron were overrepresented in their analysis of all three measures of ageing.
Iron’s role
The researchers confirmed this using a statistical method – known as Mendelian randomisation – that suggested that genes involved in metabolising iron in the blood are partly responsible for a healthy long life.
Blood iron is affected by diet and abnormally high or low levels are linked to age-related conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, liver disease and a decline in the body’s ability to fight infection in older age.
The researchers say that designing a drug that could mimic the influence of genetic variation on iron metabolism could be a future step to overcome some of the effects of ageing, but caution that more work is required.
The study was funded by the Medical Research Council and is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Anonymised datasets linking genetic variation to healthspan, lifespan, and longevity were downloaded from the publicly available Zenodo, Edinburgh DataShare and Longevity Genomics servers.
We are very excited by these findings as they strongly suggest that high levels of iron in the blood reduces our healthy years of life, and keeping these levels in check could prevent age-related damage. We speculate that our findings on iron metabolism might also start to explain why very high levels of iron-rich red meat in the diet has been linked to age-related conditions such as heart disease.
Our ultimate aim is to discover how ageing is regulated and find ways to increase health during ageing. The ten regions of the genome we have discovered that are linked to lifespan, healthspan and longevity are all exciting candidates for further studies.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Key to ageing better
- Five measures to reform the bureaucracyon March 7, 2021 at 8:04 am
Catch them young, train them frequently, invest in specialisation, measure governance quality and desist from appointing retired officials.
- Brothers Julius and Jalen Ryan make key contributions for Andress baseball teamon March 7, 2021 at 7:01 am
Brothers Julius and Jalen Ryan are key players for the Andress baseball team, which has started to 3-0 in District 1-5A .
- Cannabis education should aim to normalize — not prevent — safe and legal useon March 7, 2021 at 6:46 am
If the goal of cannabis legalization was to protect public health and safety, education and awareness campaigns must normalize safe cannabis use, not stop cannabis consumption.
- What really works to help an aging brain. It’s not going to function like it did in your 20s, but there are things you can do.on March 5, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Exercising, eating well, learning a language, quilting and staying mentally and socially engaged have been shown to help.
- New Google.org COVID-19 database could hold key to disease's mysterieson March 4, 2021 at 2:20 pm
A year into the pandemic, COVID-19 still puzzles researchers, but the public release of a new database may help scientists solve some of the mysteries lingering around this devastating disease. An ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Key to ageing better
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Slowing aging
- Aging Matters: Virtual AgingWell to be held Tuesdayon March 6, 2021 at 9:15 pm
The AgingWell Series will be presented from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday via Zoom. The program will be “Know the 10 Signs of Alzheimer’s” and will be led by Juanita Wade, a community educator with the ...
- Can some drugs delay aging? Scientists focus on those that target frailty and age-related disease.on March 5, 2021 at 12:23 pm
Drugs that can postpone or prevent the onset of debilitating diseases could enhance longevity and provide enormous societal benefits, geroscientists say.
- This 9-Minute Workout Can Slow Aging, Expert Sayson March 5, 2021 at 8:34 am
Exercising can help cool chronic inflammation just as eating a healthier diet can, and this workout is perfect for that.
- Study Shows Potential Anti-Aging Benefits of Diabetes Drug Metformin Improve Covid-19 Mortality Rateon March 5, 2021 at 1:28 am
Longevity therapies, specifically the potential anti-aging benefits of the diabetes drug Metformin, can help individuals survive COVID-19. Several studies suggest the drug ...
- Prevention of psychopathology can slow aging, JAMA study.on March 2, 2021 at 9:03 pm
Individuals with mental disorders are at an elevated risk of developing chronic age-related physical diseases. However, it is not clear whether psychopathology is also associated with processes ...