Blood proteins taken from a standard blood test can accurately predict how old you are, a new study reports.
This sounds like something out of a science fiction novel. On the contrary it’s true and it’s happening right now. A recent study in Nature Medicine, accurately predicted a persons age by analyzing a blood sample for levels of a few hundred proteins. The results offer important new insights into what happens as we age. For example, the researchers found that the biological aging process isn’t a steady trend, but accelerates periodically. The greatest declines come at ages 34, 60, and 78.
The utility in this kind of blood test is that it possibly could identify individuals who are aging faster than others. Such people might be at risk earlier in life for cardiovascular problems, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoarthritis, and other age-related health issues.
And, on the positive side, a predictive blood test can be used to slow down the aging clock with specific formulated drugs. Furthermore, these results suggest that certain proteins in young blood can revitalize the aging brain and other parts of the body.
Blood Proteins: Study Results
The researchers isolated plasma from more than 4,200 healthy individuals between ages 18 and 95. They used data from more than 50 percent of the participants to assemble an aging clock. Within certain limits, the clock accurately predicted the chronological age of the study’s remaining 1,446 participants. The best predictions relied on just 373 of the clock’s almost 3,000 proteins.
The clock also reliably predicted the correct chronological age of four groups of people not in the study. Interestingly, it was possible to make a decent age prediction based on just nine of the clock’s most proteins.
The findings show that blood proteins can predict chronological age. These changes probably are a precursor to biological changes in the body and the brain. The proteins circulating in the bloodstream come from the blood as well as from other cells in the body.
Moreover, the researchers also reported that people who appeared biologically younger than their actual chronological age based on their blood proteins also performed better on cognitive and physical tests.
Implications
Overall, the findings show that protein substances in your blood can predict a person’s chronological and biological age. It could eventually lead to developing new drugs and other therapies that reverse the aging process.