Studio maps the 3 roads of aging

Inflammation, fat and carbohydrate metabolism. Aging passes through these three paths and to ‘map them’ is a study published in ‘Aging Research Reviews’, the result of the collaboration between the Irccs Neuromed of Pozzilli (Isernia), the University of Bologna, the University of Insubria of Varese and the Russian University of Nizhny Novgorod. The authors investigated the ‘clocks’ that help determine each person’s biological age. Because “the date of birth on the identity card does not say everything”, recall from Neuromed and the University of Bologna. “In fact, alongside the personal data, there is a biological age, the one that really reflects how much our body is aging. It is a field of research that is arousing great interest” and that according to scientists “could lead to new ideas on how to slow down. the aging process “. So if there is a biological age, the ‘biological clocks’ that define it seem to be more than one. “There are several. Some overlap, others seem more independent”, underline the researchers who in the study examined the scientific works published in recent years, relating to the superimposition of the different biological clocks known, from both a genetic and epidemiological point of view. “Over time – explains Alessandro Gialluisi, fellow of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, first author of the work – various indicators have been proposed of what we could define the ‘true’ age of an individual. We have markers that can be highlighted in blood tests, but also images of the brain derived from magnetic resonance imaging, or even small chemical modifications that accumulate in specific locations in our genome, to name a few. In addition, there are data on some genes that we know are involved in aging. In general, ours the survey highlighted how these indicators help to determine the biological age both separately and, in some cases, overlapping “. And it was precisely from the genetic analysis of the different biological clocks that the authors were able to define “three main common pathways that seem to influence them: inflammation, lipid metabolism and transport, carbohydrate metabolism”. “These results – highlights Aurelia Santoro, researcher at the Department of Specialized, Diagnostic and Experimental Medicine at the University of Bologna – indicate how lifestyle interventions, for example adhering to a Mediterranean-type diet, or caloric restriction or intermittent fasting , can affect precisely the three biological processes identified, acting on the metabolisms, lipid and carbohydrate, but also reducing the level of inflammation and oxidative stress of the organism “.” Despite the great heterogeneity that characterizes the response to nutritional interventions in humans, due to both genetic and environmental and cultural factors – remarks Claudio Franceschi, professor emeritus of the University of Bologna and director of the Laboratory of System Medicine for Healthy Aging of the Lobachevsky University of Nizhny Novgorod – the impact of the diet on the basic mechanisms of aging remains crucial. “” These are extremely interesting prospects for medicine – comments Licia Iacoviello, director of the Department of Epidemiology and Neuromed Prevention, full professor of Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Insubria – First of all because, knowing the biological age of a person, we will be able to customize the prevention and any therapies no longer just on the age, but on how that specific individual is really aging. Furthermore, also thanks to further studies that will have to be conducted to refine these results, we can begin to identify some elements capable of slowing down the aging process, first of all lifestyles such as nutrition “.