Aging may be more flexible than once believed, according to a growing body of research.
Scientists at Yale University have now taken an important step toward identifying which treatments actually influence biological aging and which ones show little measurable benefit.
The results were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
From Cancer Research to Biological Aging
Rather than focusing on individual diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, his adviser asked why they could not investigate the aging process that contributes to their development.
“That put me on a different path,” said Raghav Sehgal, an associate research scientist in psychiatry who specializes in computational biology and bioinformatics at Yale University.
Yale Researchers Use Epigenetic Clocks to Measure Aging Changes
These tools analyze chemical patterns attached to DNA, particularly methyl groups, which act like tags that change as people grow older.
The researchers brought together findings from 51 clinical studies investigating different anti-aging strategies. Across those studies, the team examined more than 110 DNA methylation biomarkers, including 16 major epigenetic clocks, according to UA.News.
“What we did was pretty unique,” Sehgal said. “We already know that certain things might prolong health span and lifespan.” “There is data from retrospective analysis as well as from animal models.”
Diet and Exercise Consistently Reduce Epigenetic Age
One of the clearest findings involved diet and exercise, where combining regular physical activity with a healthy eating plan consistently reduced epigenetic age.
A separate study published in Nature Communications highlighted 10 specific diet regimes linked to slower biological aging, including the Mediterranean diet, the Nordic diet, the DASH diet, and the MIND diet. More than 70 percent of the affected biological pathways were shared across all diets, according to Juliana Tavares, an epidemiologist from DZNE, as reported by ScienceAlert.
The strongest reductions in biological age markers in the Yale analysis were associated with certain pharmaceutical treatments. These included metformin and semaglutide, prescription medications used to manage metabolic conditions and body weight, alongside anti-TNF therapies that target an immune-system protein involved in the body’s inflammatory response.
Questions Remain About Long-Term Health Outcomes
In contrast to prescription drugs and diets, over-the-counter supplements and some medical procedures generally failed to produce meaningful reductions in biological age across the studies examined. Newer biological age clocks also performed better than older versions, and people living with diseases generally experienced larger changes in their aging biomarkers than healthy participants.
According to Sehgal, the next priority is to test these findings in larger, more diverse populations. The improved blood tests could dramatically shorten the time needed to evaluate potential anti-aging therapies from decades down to a few years or months.
However, senior author Albert Higgins-Chen stressed that scientists must be careful about interpreting what changes in aging biomarkers actually mean. Researchers still need to establish whether changes in biological age are directly caused by a treatment, how quickly those changes occur, and whether they persist after treatment ends.
“However, the true meaning of that change must be fully understood.”
Frequently Asked Questions About Biological Aging Tests
What is an epigenetic clock?
An epigenetic clock is a computer algorithm that uses chemical patterns attached to DNA, specifically methyl groups, to estimate a person’s biological or functional age from a blood test.
Which diets were linked to slower biological aging?
Ten specific diets were linked to slower aging, including the Mediterranean, Nordic, DASH, and MIND diets, according to research published in Nature Communications.
Do over-the-counter supplements reduce biological age?
Popular over-the-counter supplements examined in the clinical studies generally showed little evidence of producing measurable reductions in epigenetic age.
What prescription medications showed reductions in biological age?
The Yale analysis found that metformin, semaglutide, and anti-TNF therapies were associated with the strongest reductions in biological age markers.
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