There Are at Least Four Different Ways of Aging, Scientists Say

A study in Nature Medicine examined the aging process at the molecular level, which may yield insights that could affect the personal aging process via targeted medication or lifestyle modifications, reports NBC News . Stanford University researchers monitored 43 healthy adults over two years, analyzing blood and other biological samples for molecular changes. The team determined that people tend to fall into one of four biological aging pathways, or ageotypes: immune, kidney, liver, or metabolic. Metabolic agers, for example, may face a heightened risk for type 2 diabetes as they age while immune agers may generate more inflammation, and therefore be at a greater risk for immune-related disease. Meanwhile, liver and kidney ageotypes may be susceptible to liver or kidney diseases, respectively. Some participants fit multiple ageotypes, while others were aging in all four categories. Theoretically, if people can determine their personalized ageotype and how fast they are aging, they could actively attempt to influence it via pharmaceutical and other tailored interventions.