One of the concepts that aging experts have explored in recent years is ageotypes. In 2020, a team of researchers from Stanford University, led by Stanford geneticist Michael Snyder, categorized how humans age and established four ageotypes or ways of aging. In each of them, certain functions, systems or organs of the human body suffer more over the years than others.
The scientists thoroughly studied 106 individuals between 29 and 75 years of age, through analyzes and tests, to observe their biomarkers. This, which may seem like an unimportant finding, can be key to, in a personalized way, acting against what makes each of us age.
“Ageotypes are patterns that describe biological systems that are aging. For example, in an immune ageotype the immune system ages faster, in a metabolic ageotype the metabolic system is what ages. You can think of this like a car, the car as a whole ages, but some parts wear out faster, the engine, the brakes or the chassis,” Michael Snyder, a genetics specialist at Stanford University, a pioneer, tells La Vanguardia. on this topic, and also director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine of this university.
As Consuelo Borrás, professor of physiology at the University of Valencia and collaborator of CENIE, the International Center on Aging, explains, “ageotypes have seen the biological pathways that are affected with age by following individuals over the years.” . According to this researcher, what is relevant about this concept is that it puts on the table that “we do not all age in the same way or at the same time: what determines how we do it is marked in part by our genetics, but above all by our style.” of life”.
That is why “older people are much more different from each other than young people or children, because to genetic variability you add a different life trajectory,” adds José Viña Ribes, researcher, also professor of physiology at the University of Valencia and member of the biological area of ??the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology.
In 2020, when they published their first study on the subject, Stanford scientists established four ageotypes: metabolic, immunological, hepatic and nephrotic. But since then many other aging pathways have been found, such as cardiovascular. “In each case there are phenotypes of associated diseases. For example, those who age more due to their metabolic system have a greater risk of diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Those who age more at heart have a greater cardiovascular risk. Those whose kidneys age are at risk of kidney failure,” says Snyder himself. According to Viñas, neurological ageotypes should be added to the ageotypes established so far.
Can we all know our ageotype? Together with his team, Snyder created the metabolite profiling company called iollo, in which patients (or clients) provide a homemade blood sample that is “very easy to take,” explains the North American researcher from California. “More than 600 biomarkers are observed, and we consider 20 ageotypes, including many of those mentioned and also others.”
Through these analyzes (with prices between $300 and $450) biomarkers are measured, such as the intestinal microbiome, immune response, inflammation, hormonal balance, liver and kidney function, or bone health. For example, levels of cortisol, bile acids, omega-3 fatty acids, taurine and methionine, the ratio of kynurenine to tryptophan, creatinine, triglycerides are observed… As Viña recognizes, in fact, “it is scientifically feasible to know your ageotype. If we do a blood test of 600 parameters and analyze it deeply, for three-quarters of an hour, we can see that you have a hormonal profile based on certain levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, or a cardiovascular profile, to give an example.”
Although the data is easy to obtain and scientifically feasible, our public health system is far from using this personalized data to treat each patient, or to guide them about their lifestyle habits with the aim of aging better. “Most health systems do not invest in keeping people healthy, they only invest when the population is sick,” Snyder denounces. “If each individual must pay for these tests privately, the most normal thing is that they do not do it.”
Given the long waiting lists to perform basic health tests on patients with pathologies, public health, at this time, cannot prioritize preventive tests. “If we are giving a waiting list for a colonoscopy with blood in stool for half a year, well, let’s see… we are not going to see the aging profile,” says Viña. “But if you can afford it, it is personalized medicine,” she adds.
Viña, physiologist and researcher, admits that knowing your own ageotype can be a good investment. “As Warren Buffet says, invest in yourself, invest time, money, knowledge, effort. If a person can afford it, he should not pay so much for car insurance, but pay for good insurance or this type of thing.” That is, if someone can afford it, it is a good idea to research their own ageotype to know where to focus on anti-aging health habits. According to Viña, “there is hope that this concept can help personalized high-level preventive medicine.”
As Borrás points out with these extensive analyzes and health tests, “you can know where the shots are going in your aging and what you should prioritize. Knowing your ageotype helps you focus on your weak points. If you know that in your ageotypes your immune system is more weakened than your kidney system, you can do things that improve your immune system.” However, for this researcher “it is important to highlight that our body functions as a whole, so that everything we can do to improve any of our functions will affect the rest of the functions of our body. If you cannot afford to do a major blood test or health study, follow the recommendations for healthy habits: balanced diet, physical exercise appropriate to your physical condition, control stress… Given the impossibility of adequately and constantly following all those instructions that we hear ad nauseum, anyone who has money can “follow the advice for aging that affects them the most,” in a personalized way.
“The information about the ageotype is quite actionable, those who have kidney aging should drink more water, people with immunological aging should eat more immune system stimulants and exercise more, those who age more at the cardiovascular level, control their cholesterol, blood flow. blood and cardiovascular scales,” says Snyder. He and his team demonstrated that people who changed health habits managed to delay their rate of aging. “People with metabolic aging exercised more, went on a diet and/or improved their markers. 95% of people who take the iollo test improve their markers,” the genetics specialist tells us.
“I think we can delay our aging, the obvious changes include exercise, good nutrition, supplements such as antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and fiber. Tracking helps you focus on the most critical areas. I think that one day we should even be able to reverse this aging,” says the Stanford University scientist, who is clear that what ages us the most “is inactivity, stress, obesity and serious diseases such as cancer.”
From a research point of view, for Viña, the important thing about Snyder’s contributions is that they show that “there are aging trajectories that we could systematize.” According to Borrás, this is interesting “to develop appropriate strategies to protect healthy aging.”
