We don’t all age in the same way and at the same rate: this is nothing new, but now science, through worldwide research published in the international journal The Lancet, explains why.
While we know our chronological age, i.e. our anagraphic age, the scientific community has introduced another parameter that may be even more important for our health but especially for our healthy aging.
This is the BioAge, or biological age, which describes the actual and functional age of the body at the cellular level based on molecular, biological and pathophysiological changes taking place in the human body.1
At the same chronological age, determined by our years of life, we possess an own biological age resulting from the lifestyle we have led up to that point and which is to all intents and purposes a parameter that estimates the speed at which we are aging, i.e. the quality of the life we have lived and a clear prediction of the one we will live.
The difference between chronological age and biological age emerged from the IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) analysis of a 2017 study, conducted globally on a group of people from 20 different countries, in which age-related adverse effects (including alteration of biological functions, loss of physical abilities mental and cognitive abilities) leading to the identification of 92 age-related conditions or diseases including cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, transmittable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases, diabetes and kidney diseases, digestive diseases, injuries, neoplasms, neurological disorders, other non- transmissible diseases, sense organ diseases and skin and subcutaneous diseases.2
The degree of aging at the cellular level, i.e. biological age, is therefore recognized as the main risk factor for disease.
By identifying biomarkers that can measure the age of our body systems and thus the general health status of human organism, the researchers also detected a possible gap of up to 30 years between chronological age and biological age. For example, the same level of age-related disease load was recorded in a 76-year-old Japanese and a 46-year-old in Papua New Guinea as the global average of 65-year-olds.2
Owning a biological age similar to the chronological age therefore means that one’s body is aging properly or, even more so if it is lower, is aging more slowly with reduced accumulation of cellular damage. Conversely, a biological age above the chronological age is a sign of accelerated aging in progress.
Although it is not possible to change our birth certificate (chronological age is immutable), scientific research shows that in addition to understanding the aging process, it is possible to act on our biological age, i.e. to slow down physiological deterioration and the onset of age-related diseases.
We know that healthy aging is the result of 20% of the interaction of genetic factors (genome) and 80% of our lifestyle (epigenome).
This totally changes the perspective and individual responsibility: healthy aging is only to a small extent a matter of genes but is mostly determined by our lifestyle, in which wrong daily choices trigger malfunctions within our organism over time (9 Hallmarks of Aging).
To modulate in a positive way the epigenome, from the Greek “epi” meaning “above” the DNA, i.e. the regulation of the expression and functioning of genes, we need to act on the environment in which we live and on our habits to keep our cells young and functional: proper psycho-physical activity (exercise, sleep, social activity, stress management), healthy diet, quality food supplementation and care of our skin are 4 simple choices that make a difference over time.
Taking care of and reducing our biological age is therefore possible by adopting a holistic approach to improve the quality of years lived and slow down the effects of aging.
Targeted solutions such as HAP Body Brain Skin® are designed to effectively control biological aging by acting on specific cellular targets in the Body, Brain and Skin. Find out more here.
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