SAEDNEWS: New studies show that humans experience rapid aging at two distinct peaks during their lives.
According to SaedNews, a human's life progression can be seen as a gradual sequence of changes from birth to death, but the reality is different.
You might wake up one morning, look in the mirror, and feel that you've suddenly aged significantly. You're not wrong, and this phenomenon is entirely natural. According to research on molecular changes associated with aging, humans experience two significant phases of rapid aging in their lives. One of these changes occurs around the age of 44, and the other around the age of 60.
Michael Snyder, a geneticist from Stanford University, said in August after the publication of this study: "Humans do not change gradually over time but instead undergo sudden and very significant changes. It appears that mid-40s and early 60s are periods of notable changes. It doesn't matter what type of body molecules you look at; this fact applies to all molecules."
Aging is a very complex process accompanied by an increased risk of various diseases. To reduce these risks and help discover better treatments, Snyder and his colleagues have studied the biology of aging to better understand what changes occur and how throughout life. To do this, they tracked a group of 108 adults who donated biological samples every few months over several years.
The research team found that for some conditions, such as Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases, the risk does not gradually increase over time but instead rises sharply after a certain age. Therefore, they decided to take a closer look at biomarkers of aging to see if they could identify related changes. Using samples from participants, they tracked various types of biological molecules. The molecules studied included RNA, proteins, lipids, and microbial species from the gut, skin, nose, and mouth, totaling 135,239 biological features.
Each participant submitted an average of 47 samples over 626 days. This volume of data resulted in more than 246 billion data points, which researchers processed to look for similar patterns in changes. Several other studies before this new one had found non-linear changes in molecular abundance. These non-linear changes in aging are similar in both mice and humans. Studies on flies, mice, and zebrafish have also pointed to gradual aging processes in these species.
Snyder and his colleagues found a very clear change in the abundance of various molecules in the human body at two distinct stages. Approximately 81% of all studied molecules showed changes during one or both of these stages. These changes peak in the mid-40s and again in the early 60s, with slightly different profiles. The changes in the 40s involve molecules related to lipid metabolism, caffeine and alcohol metabolism, cardiovascular diseases, and skin and muscle function disruptions.
The changes in the 60s are associated with carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism, cardiovascular diseases, changes in skin and muscle, immune system alterations, and kidney function. The first peak, in the mid-40s, is usually when women start menopause or perimenopause. However, researchers dismissed menopause as a primary factor in these changes because men also experience significant and similar molecular changes at the same age.
Xiaotao Shen, a metabolomics researcher and the lead author of the study, explained: "This new discovery shows that although menopause or perimenopause may play a role in the changes observed in women in their mid-40s, other important factors likely influence these changes in both men and women. Identifying and studying these factors should be a priority for future research."
The researchers noted that their sample size is very small and that they tested biological samples from a limited range of individuals aged 25 to 70. Future research could further investigate this phenomenon and study it in more detail across a broader spectrum of subjects to better understand how the human body changes over time.
