How To Measure Biological Age: Researchers Focus On Latinos’ Longevity For Clues
Researchers, in an attempt to figure out why some people live longer, have developed a clock that captures a key feature of aging: that as we grow older, there are complex but predictable changes in the rate at which our genes are switched on and off by a chemical process called DNA methylation.
Los Angeles Times:
Scientists Unlock A Secret To Latinos’ Longevity, With Hopes Of Slowing Aging For Everyone
A new way to measure how humans age suggests that Latinos withstand life’s wear and tear better than non-Latino Caucasians, and that they may have their Native American ancestors to thank for their longer lives. The new findings offer some insight into a longstanding demographic mystery: that despite having higher rates of inflammation and such chronic diseases as obesity and diabetes, Latinos in the United States have a longer average lifespan than do non-Latino whites. Those findings emerge from an intriguing effort to devise a biological clock — a standard measure of age more revealing than birthdays, walking speed, wrinkled skin or twinkly eyes. (Healy, 8/18)