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Scientists Show Human Aging Rates Vary Widely
HughPickens.com writes: Ever notice at your high school reunions how some classmates look ten years older than everybody else — and some look ten years younger. Now BBC reports that a study of people born within a year of each other has uncovered a huge gulf in the speed at which human bodies bodies age. The report tracked traits such as weight, kidney function and gum health and found that some of the 38-year-olds in the study were aging so badly that their "biological age" was on the cusp of retirement. "They look rough, they look lacking in vitality," says Prof Terrie Moffitt. The study says some people had almost stopped aging during the period of the study, while others were gaining nearly three years of biological age for every twelve months that passed. "Any area of life where we currently use chronological age is faulty, if we knew more about biological age we could be more fair and egalitarian," says Moffitt. The researchers studied aging in 954 young humans, the Dunedin Study birth cohort, tracking multiple biomarkers across three time points spanning their third and fourth decades of life. They developed and validated two methods by which aging can be measured in young adults, one cross-sectional and one longitudinal. According to Moffit the science of healthspan extension may be focused on the wrong end of the lifespan; rather than only studying old humans, geroscience should also study the young. "Eventually if we really want to slow the process of ageing to prevent the onset of disease we're going to have to intervene with young people."
What you do/experience when you are young (smoking, drinking to much, too little sleep, bad excercise, bad housing ... etc. ) comes back to haunt you.
Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
I have some old friends that are meth addicts that look like my grandparents.
Are your grandparents on meth?
I'll just stick with the painting in my attic thanks.
The trick is to avoid processed milk. Just suck it right from the cow. But, make sure you find a cow and not a bull. The bull won't like it. I know that seems counterintuitive, but trust me on this one.
stay away from milk, sugar and gluten.
You were doing pretty well right up until you mentioned gluten. This near fanaticism with avoiding gluten is approaching the same level of thinking organic foods are more nutritious.
Gluten comes from certain grains. Despite this fact, I have seen products, including fruit itself, labeled as "gluten free" which do not use grain in their production. This article spells it out very nicely:
The researchers noted that many symptoms attributed to gluten may actually be caused by sensitivity to other components of wheat flour or other ingredients found in wheat-based foods like bread, pasta, and breakfast cereals.
Symptoms that have been attributed to gluten sensitivity include diarrhea, abdominal cramping, bloating, headaches, fatigue, and even those associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Di Sabatino and Corazza write that some people may experience these symptoms when they eat foods containing gluten simply because they believe these foods will make them sick.
They conclude that common sense must prevail to "prevent a gluten preoccupation from evolving into the conviction that gluten is toxic for most of the population."
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
From the summary: "Any area of life where we currently use chronological age is faulty, if we knew more about biological age we could be more fair and egalitarian,"
That depends. Should people with a higher biological age retire earlier? Kinda unfair to people who looked after themselves.
Of course I can also see ways to make good use of this: It would be interesting to see if certain jobs are linked to people ageing faster. Maybe (maybe) people in those jobs should be give the option of retiring earlier, with pensions adjusted somehow.
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I guess raising kids takes a toll on your health as well as your bank account.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
generally eating gluten free is better for your digestive system,
What utter unscientific bullshit*.
*unless you have actual celiac disease.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
I've heard a theory that once one's biological imperative is met, one's body may indeed start to change. This could be just an old wives' tale, but on the other hand if the 'family unit' tends to make for physiological changes in both parents (as opposed to the male leaving after conception) then maybe there's a bit of truth to it.
We really don't have enough information at this point though.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Getting back in touch with high-school classmates was a huge eye-opener for me. I'm 47 now, graduated in 1986. Many of my classmates look like they're in their 60s. I'm not exaggerating. It's just amazing to me how differently people age.
Do you have ESP?
It's stress; be it from the hard work in raising a family or a single person pushing 60+ hours a day with 5 hours of sleep or less. This kills the body, literally! Mental stress also shrinks the brain. I'm in my late 30s, and I can tell how much work related stress (you either have a job, or don't. There's no fucking balance in this world anymore to pay the mortgage/rent) has altered my health. I feel I've aged twice what I should have. I'm the only one in my family that has a few gray hairs early. 10 years go, people thought I was under 21.
FUCK!
Life is not for the lazy.
generally eating gluten free is better for your digestive system
There is no credible scientific study I am aware of that supports this statement. If you wish to assert this you need to provide non-anecdotal evidence, preferably in the form of a double blind study supporting this assertion. I am not aware of any evidence that gluten is measurably harmful to individuals without celiac disease, an allergy or other form of gluten sensitivity. This is a very small portion of the population (somewhere between 0.5% and 1%) that is known to be affected. The best available evidence appears to clearly show that if your aren't part of that population then avoiding gluten is a waste of effort.
if you want to stay young, avoid as many processed foods as you can.
Again you are asserting that "staying young" is linked to avoiding processed foods. While there is evidence to support that processed foods are frequently harmful if consumed regularly over time, you cannot automatically generalize this to link it to biological aging (versus chronological aging) without evidence. There may very well be a link but it is unproven at this time. I understand that it sounds reasonable but lots of things sound reasonable that aren't actually true.
*raises hand* I'd like to join your congregation.
Father of two, sole income-maker in my family, average sleep time is 6 hours a day. I work more than it's healthy, and that's because I have no choice. Still, many people think I'm younger than I actually am. I guess at some point I'll start aging really fast, like it's often seen in Asian people. This year they look like they're 25, next year they look like they're 50 and their actual age is 35-36.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
It's stress; be it from the hard work in raising a family or a single person pushing 60+ hours a day with 5 hours of sleep or less.
That is a long freaking day.