What’s your ageotype? There are 4 distinct patterns to ageing – and knowing yours could add years to your life
AGEING is an inevitable process that affects all of us.
But scientists reckon we might have some control over how quickly our bodies get older.
According to a team of Stanford researchers, it all has to do with identifying your ‘ageotype’.
Though ageing is universal, it turns out we all experience this process in a different way.
Dr Kerry Aston, a rheumatologist specialising in longevity, told Patient.info this is due to factors like genetics, cell damage due to oxidative stress, lifestyle choices and how quickly the cells in our organs and tissues can turn over and repair themselves.
But for some people, parts of their bodies or organs might decline more rapidly than others, which is what defines their ageotype.
According to the study published by the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2020, people’s bodies can follow four different biological pathways as they age.
They collected blood, poo and other biological samples from 43 healthy men and women between the ages of 34 and 68 over two years and came up with the following groups.
1. The metabolic ageotype
If you fit into this category, it means your metabolism – the chemical process in your body that turns food into energy – is ageing quicker than other parts of your body.
Your body uses the energy from food to help you breathe, circulate blood, repair and grow cells, digest food.
So when your metabolism is declining due to age, you could develop conditions like obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
2. The immune ageotype
A healthy and young immune system is better at fighting off infections and managing inflammation, but this can get harder if it declines with age.
An ageing immune system might mean you can’t fight off infections as effectively, but you can also develop autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, according to Patient.info.
3. The hepatic ageotype
The hepatic ageotype has to do with the rate and which your liver ages.
Your liver processes nutrients and filters out harmful toxins from your body, so your body might not perform these tasks well if you have a hepatic ageotype.
Decline in liver health can make you more susceptible to liver diseases like cirrhosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
4. The nephrotic ageotype
This ageotype has to do with kidney function – these balance your body’s fluids, regulate blood pressure, remove waste products, and produce vitamin D.
Ageing kidneys can have problems filtering out potentially harmful substances, cause blood pressure peaks or dips, or create imbalances in essential minerals.
You might also be at increased risk of kidney diseases.
Can we slow down ageing?
You body’s ageing process won’t necessarily fit into one category.
Your might show signs of multiple ageotypes all at once.
But according to Dr Aston, examining how your body is ageing might help show what health problems you might be at higher risk of.
This in turn can help you make better lifestyle choices.
Dr Aston explained: “Pinpointing the organ under the most stress – the ‘oldest’ part of your body – and focusing your efforts there will offer the most significant benefits to your overall health and longevity.
“For instance, if testing reveals that you have the metabolic ageotype, indicating a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, you can take measures that improve your insulin sensitivity, support weight management, and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Lifestyle changes that can help with that include:
- Reducing how much sugar and processed food you eat
- Eating more fibre-rich foods
- Doing regular physical activity
The Stanford researchers observed that some study participants were able to decrease the rate at which parts of their bodies aged when they changed their behaviour accordingly.
“They were not Benjamin Buttons — that is, they still aged — but the overall rate at which they did so declined, and in some cases ageing markers decreased,” researchers wrote.
Dr Aston noted that more research is needed to identify how lifestyle changes can affect ageotypes, and to develop targeted treatments to slow down our body’s ageing process.