As we know, all people do not age at the same rate, some aging markedly slower, and some faster, seemingly following a normal distribution.
If you want to stay healthy and free of chronic disease, as well as live a long lifespan by fighting aging, you’d be well-advised to be on the left side of the curve. How can we do that?
An interesting new study by a team that includes the maverick scientist Lee Hood determined the biological markers most associated with lower or higher biological age. (ref)
The study looked at medical records of over 3500 people, and assessed biological age via a computer algorithm, the Klemera–Doubal algorithm. They looked at with biomarkers were associated with younger or older biological, as opposed to chronological, age.
There weren’t a lot of surprises here – though there were a few, which I’ll mention.
They found 3 general measures that were strongly associated with biological age:
- metabolic health
- inflammation
- biological toxins
Metabolic health
Among common lab tests, the type a doctor would routinely order, measures of metabolic health were important. These measures are connected to insulin sensitivity and body composition, which is the relative amount of muscle and fat tissue someone has.
Albumin and total protein were strongly associated with lower biological age. These tests are general health measures, but of great interest, are also associated with dietary protein intake. (ref)
Hemoglobin A1c was strongly associated with higher biological age, each 1 SD increase being associated with 4 extra years of age. HbA1c, or glycosylated hemoglobin, is a measure of longer term (several months) blood glucose.
Below are the analytes associated with lower or higher biological age.
HbA1c is of course associated with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.
What these particular results say is that to fight aging, you really, really want to remain insulin sensitive. The quickest way to measure insulin sensitivity is to test for fasting insulin and fasting glucose, and with them to calculate HOMA-IR, and index of insulin sensitivity. These tests are readily available at any clinical lab, and most doctors will order them for you. (Or, order them yourself.)
How do you stay maximally insulin sensitive? Through the ways that we’ve discussed many times on this site:
- good body composition, i.e. a relatively high amount of muscle and low body fat
- resistance training; a single bout of resistance training improves insulin sensitivity
- low-carb, whole food diet
- intermittent fasting.
These results also confirm something else I’ve said many times, that type 2 diabetes is the mother of all chronic disease. A very large number of chronic diseases are associated with high insulin, and I’d argue that virtually all of them are, whether that’s been studied or not.
That also agrees with results from classic studies on aging, namely that calorie restriction, which leads to low insulin and low body fat, extends lifespan. And that growth and longevity are negatively related.
Inflammation
Inflammation is the body’s defense reaction to outside “attack”, mainly from microorganisms. Aging is characterized by increasing, low-grade inflammation; indeed, it’s so important that it’s been called “inflammaging”.
Inflammaging may be due to increasing exposure to microorganisms as we age. (ref) Or to exposure to LPS from gram-negative bacteria that enters the body through loosening of intestinal tight junctions.
In the current study, monocytes were a strong predictor of increased biological age, and lymphocytes a negative predictor.
Toxins
Several toxins that accumulate in the body were associated with increased biological age, notably
- mercury
- lead
- perfluorooctanesulfonic acid
Mercury and lead are of course heavy metals and are highly toxic.
A recent study published in The Lancet found that lead exposure could be responsible for 18% of all deaths, or 412,000 deaths annually. (ref)
If true, that is huge.
Chelation therapy with EDTA, which removes heavy metals, results in lower all-cause mortality. (ref)
Of interest, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid is a persistent environmental pollutant, and was the major ingredient of the fabric protector Scotchgard.
Of all the toxins, lead was associated with the greatest increase in biological age, at about 4 years for each 1 SD increase in blood lead levels.
Conclusion
This study confirms some of what we know already about long life, notably the importance of metabolic health and inflammation.
The results for heavy metals are perhaps less appreciated, by scientists, physicians, and the public.
Biological age is malleable.
14 Comments
Hi PD – been reading your blog for awhile now, great stuff! I had excellent health markers throughout my life, yet still contracted Non – Hodgkins Lymphoma, Large B Cell, Stage 4 – at 42 years of age (I’m 58 now). After innumerable failed chemo treatments I underwent a last – ditch experimental procedure called a stem cell transplant, which almost killed me but saved my life (it’s SOP procedure now for many blood cancers, as you’re no doubt aware). It took over five years to feel fully recovered, but I’ve often wondered what it cost me in terms of life expectancy and long term health. Doctors apparently have no idea what to prescribe for post – cancer patients after the five year danger period of recurrence expires. I work out harder than ever and have passed recent physicals with flying colors, but am curious as to what your recommendation would be for a person in my situation. For example, I’d like to try Rapamune, but fear complications down the road. Thank you in advance for your response.
If I were in your position, I would talk to Dr. Green about whether to take rapamycin.
Thank you for the advice, will do.
I’m late on commenting on this but..you might want to save this link in case you ever get cancer.
http://www.rexresearch.com/fenbendazole/fenbendazole.html
Look at the links at this link. This is actually the kind of stuff the Centers of Disease Control should be looking at because no one is going to pay to test this like any other drug. Right now the CDC is just another government captured bureaucracy this time captured by the drug companies. You can get this stuff at tractor supply.
There’s no money in this. Cancer drugs are stupendously priced. If you could cure a vast amount of cancers with a few hundred bucks worth of drugs it would really kick the cancer doctors and drug companies in the pocketbook.
FYI – new study regarding Metformin:
https://www.salk.edu/news-release/diabetes-drug-has-unexpected-broad-implications-for-healthy-aging/
Thanks for that article. I’ve just recently heard about Chelation Therapy for the first time and now you mention it. Funny sometimes. I’m currently looking for a doctor who does this, but I don’t feel comfortable going through with it yet. Do you think Chelation Therapy is a good way for Heavy Metal Detoxification, any experience?
Mr Mangan
I’m Curious about your ideas on the current trend in bodybuilding circles with regard to an emphasis on training that involves more and more volume. It appears there is a return to the “6x/week double split” routines that were popularized in the 70s. (I was there:) Although Mike Mentzer’s views (due his exposure to Arthur Jones) and the importance of “intensity” gained some traction, this seems to have been sort-lived. Again now, there seems to be this attraction to workouts that (to me) seem to be no more than endurance contests and are more accurately described as bouts of ‘heavy labor’.
The popularity of CrossFit (and its various incantations) also seems troubling to me especially given its emphasis on the use of momentum/swinging/high velocity. Your thoughts?
Chelation with ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid) is more effective than EDTA, although EDTA may be necessary in certain cases. ALA chelation removes most metals. However, it will not remove Lead. The schedule of chelation is critical to avoid further problems.
Please check out http://www.noamalgam.com for the details and the books. Please do NOT do chelation without reading about it first.
“Hemoglobin A1c was strongly associated with higher biological age, each 1 SD increase being associated with 4 extra years of age.
Shouldn’t that be each 1 SD decrease? The lower the A1C the better.
Not necessarily. Type 2 diabetics who get A1C below 7 have worse results than those who don’t, probably due to heavy doses of insulin. I know this from both Dr Fong and personal experience of my brother & myself.
Yes, my bad.
Of all the toxins, lead was associated with the greatest increase in biological age, at about 4 years for each 1 SD increase in blood lead levels.
Surely should read decrease.
Off Topic – Hi, PD. I stumbled upon this while preparing for my recent second whole blood donation. I have been following you since your podcast with Ivor Cummins and have not seen you comment on this on your website, in podcasts or in Smash Chronic Fatigue. Were you prohibited from donating blood due to your diagnosis of chronic fatigue?
Australian Red Cross website: “Chronic fatigue syndrome – I have/had chronic fatigue syndrome. Can I donate? Unfortunately, no. Because we don’t know the cause of this serious, debilitating disease, we can’t rule out that it is caused by a transmissible infection that medical science hasn’t discovered yet. We also don’t know the potential health effects of long-term blood donation on people who have suffered chronic fatigue syndrome. As a result, if you have a past history of this disease you can’t donate blood.”
https://www.donateblood.com.au/faq/chronic-fatigue-syndrome
Ran across this article on removing blood. This fits very well with your thoughts on dumping iron. The amazing fact about this is it has the same effect as replacing older animals blood with younger blood.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2020/06/removing-harmful-factors-in-old-blood-has-age-reversing-effect.html
So the ancient practice of bloodletting may not be as silly as it sounds as you have pointed out.
I read a lot of strange stuff and some it is on removing parasites. The primary things they talk about are Lyme disease and Candida. One of the things many agree on in these groups is using Lactoferrin to break up biofilms and Xylitol to attack bacteria. I found this interesting paper that shows Lactoferrin binds iron and is also produced by the body when under bacterial attack. Lactoferrin also has a strong anti-viral effect and they talk about it’s usefulness for corona. So Lactoferrin might be another way to sequester iron at low cost. I wonder if the biofilm break up effect of Lactoferrin comes from it’s iron binding??
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01221/full
Here’s another (I told you I read weird stuff). I was looking at articles on old fashioned cures and one of them is drinking turpentine with sugar. The anti-parasite people say that the sugar activates the bacteria and other parasites but that parasites abhor turpentine so they are flushed from the body as the parasites escape. On a whim I searched for turpentine and iron and got this paper.
Changes of gene expression of iron regulatory proteins during turpentine oil-induced acute-phase response in the rat.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17417667/
I think the book you have on Dumping Iron may be one of the most seminal paradigm shifts in history.
One last one and a very important one. Really important. Heart disease is the killer. Major so…
nattokinase 36% reduction in plaque size in 36 weeks. This is extraordinary. Huge.
[A clinical study on the effect of nattokinase on carotid artery atherosclerosis and hyperlipidaemia]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28763875/