How to age less and better (and why 20% of us have an organ that does it faster than the rest of the body)

Everyone wants to live longer and healthier. Already Gilgamesh, the protagonist of an epic poem engraved about 4,000 years ago on clay tablets, was obsessed with overcoming mortality and the Chinese emperor Qin Shi-Huang, who died in 210 BC, drank mercury hoping to cheat death. The dream of longevity has stimulated the imagination throughout human history, but it is only recently that it has come under deep scientific scrutiny. From studies on monozygotic twins, subjects with identical DNA sequences and obviously the same number of years, we have seen how the different lifestyle makes the brothers age at different rates. It is clear for all to see how some seem to age more gracefully than others. Think of an Alzheimer’s patient: his brain undergoes accelerated aging.

Today we know how genetics, that hereditary information encoded in DNA, has an impact on the possibility of developing pathologies by 25-30%. The remaining 70-75% is influenced by the environment and our habits. Thus, lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise, stress reduction, appear to play a more significant role due to their action of turning our genes on or off without causing changes in the DNA sequence.

The epigenetic clock

The science that studies these factors is called epigenetics and to underline its power in promoting our well-being there are those in the United States who talk about epiwellness. «To define the state of health and the predisposition to get sick, in recent years scientific research has introduced the concept of epigenetic age which measures, through molecular biomarkers known as epigenetic biological clocks, our biological age», he explains Marica Franzago, biologist and researcher at the G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara on projects supported by the Umberto Veronesi Foundation. «Steve Horvath was among the first, in 2013, to develop an epigenetic clock, an algorithm that allows us to estimate how quickly or slowly our body ages. Among the biomarkers considered in his watch, there are precisely the changes in gene regulatory mechanisms that influence the way in which genes are turned on or off within our cells.

Therefore, epigenetic age may differ from chronological age. Despite the current evidence, further research will be needed to identify innovative epigenetic strategies in an anti-aging perspective, but the growing interest in epigenetic mechanisms is mainly due to their reversibility. In fact, in a recent study we examined the interaction between epigenetic aging and obesity, underlining the potential slowdown of epigenetic age and the onset of chronic diseases such as obesity through a personalized intervention guided by lifestyle changes. These include a varied and healthy diet such as the true Mediterranean diet, adequate physical activity, good relationships, correct habits avoiding excesses, optimal rest.”

Old wisdom, new certainties

With good quality sleep it seems you can add five years to the life of men and two and a half years to that of women according to researchers from a survey that appeared on Journal of the American College of Cardiologymeaning by good quality rest of seven-eight hours a day which does not require drugs and which allows you to wake up rested at least five days a week. In short, embracing epiwellbeing means educating ourselves on the power of lifestyle choices in promoting possible healthy longevity. He has always done so Shigeaki Hinoharaone of the most famous Japanese doctors who continued to visit until a few months before his death at 105 years old.

He never stopped telling his patients that to live well and for a long time you need to have more fun, set goals, eat well and move to control your weight, keeping yourself strong even by climbing the stairs, as he did every day. Shigeaki ate a light lunch, sometimes skipping it if he was too busy with work, and a dinner of vegetables, a little fish, rice and lean meat twice a week. Diet and physical activity have been shown to have an epigenetic role even in the primary and secondary prevention of heart diseases, the king of our organs. It emerges from a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

«Cardiovascular diseases remain the most common cause of death worldwide. Primary prevention consists of controlling risk factors, such as smoking, hypertension and diabetes in people without cardiovascular disease, while secondary prevention consists of reducing the risk of a subsequent cardiovascular event in patients with existing cardiovascular disease. Exercise and nutrition, in combination with a balanced gut microbiota, are powerful epigenetic modifiers activating signaling cascades at the DNA level associated with cardiovascular benefits” comments Roberto Pedretti, co-author of the research, associate professor of Cardiovascular Diseases at the University of Milan Bicocca, director of the Cardiovascular Department at the IRCSS MultiMedica of Sesto San Giovanni (Milan ).

«Substances contained in foods such as resveratrol, curcumin or polyphenols can favorably interfere with epigenetic modifications at the level of our DNA». Even long-lived fish, such as some reef specimens that can live up to 205 years, could provide lessons on what to eat. Scientists, reports Science Advances, have seen that a series of genes associated with the metabolism of flavonoids, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances contained, for example, in berries and onions, could be linked to longevity.

«Epigenetic weapons are also being tested in clinical trials that can potentially prevent, through different molecular mechanisms, inflammation, dysfunction of the endothelium, that cellular layer that lines the wall of the vessels, and therefore atherosclerosis. Another interesting avenue is the possibility of measuring the so-called miRNAs (microRNAs), small endogenous molecules involved in the regulation of gene expression. MiRNA levels are influenced by the presence of pathologies, but also by lifestyle, in particular by levels of physical activity. A healthy diet is associated with better secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and this has also been linked to different expression of miRNAs. Once again, lifestyle and epigenetics can influence our future”, underlines Pedretti who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology.

Research does not stop in the face of the tantalizing possibility that one day the aging process could be stopped or even reversed. In addition to epigenetic and biological age, the frontier is to estimate the age of organs separately from that of the body as a whole. In a study just published on Natureresearchers analyzed plasma protein levels and using artificial intelligence models calculated the aging of 11 major organs, including the heart, in more than 5,000 people.

«It has been observed that almost 20% of the population shows strongly accelerated aging in one organ and approximately 2% shows aging in multiple organs. For example, subjects with accelerated cardiac aging have a 250% higher risk of heart failure”, concludes Pedretti. “This approach could promote prevention, and therefore quality of life, because if we realize that an organ is aging too quickly, measures could be taken sooner.”