Can Aging Be Changed? Or Is Aging Inexorable?

There is a consensus among researchers that the definition of aging cannot be based on age alone.

The speed and intensity of aging-related changes can be influenced by several factors. Among these factors are diseases, sequelae, lifestyle, genetics, and the environment itself.

The speed and intensity of aging-related changes can be influenced by several factors. Among these factors are diseases, sequelae, lifestyle, genetics, and the environment itself.

On the other hand, aging is inexorable.

The conclusions of Lakatta (2015), a cardiovascular aging researcher, indicate that aging can be characterized as a disease. Before the clinical manifestations, cellular and molecular cardiovascular alterations that are related to aging can be found.

And can aging be changed? Can aging be slowed down?

When “aging” appears without clinical repercussions, it is usually said that it is “successful aging”, however, when it is accompanied by diseases with clinical manifestations and many consequences, it is said that it is “unsuccessful aging”.

Recognition of “successful aging” is multifaceted and involves a positive assessment of many functions such as physical, cognitive, social, and emotional.

The interaction of factors related to aging occurs variably over time and in a heterogeneous way, and this is quite noticeable; elderly people of the same age are very different.

This question is always in discussion: can aging be changed?

As human life expectancy has been much longer than before, age-related illnesses are on the rise. Aging is a complex multifactorial process of molecular and cellular decline that affects tissue functions over time, making organisms fragile and susceptible to disease and death.

Thus, there is no doubt that age-associated cardiovascular changes increase the risk of disease and disease accelerates these changes. High blood pressure is a clear example of this. However, we all know that high blood pressure can be very well controlled with many benefits in the short and long term.

And even more, there are many resources currently available that allow action on the factors involved in the origin and progression of arterial diseases that present themselves in the elderly.

Regular physical activity, calorie restriction, and some diets can alleviate the effects of cardiovascular aging.

Testa et al. (2014) comment that calorie restriction with adequate nutrition is the only non-genetic and most consistent non-pharmacological intervention that extends life, and protects against the deterioration of biological functions, delaying or reducing the risk of many diseases related to age.

We know that the cardiovascular diseases present in the elderly, related to aging, cannot be cured, but they can be controlled. Studies in this area may bring new measures to prevent and delay arterial aging.

There is no doubt that the age-based definition of aging is imprecise, and, as a result, there is a search for markers that can determine the true biological age.

Some studies used blood markers, DNA methylation, telomere shortening (distal part of the chromosomes), and other markers.

Now a new study has gathered complete blood count data from 388 men and 694 women between 30 and 90 years and also records of physical activity (number of steps in a given period). From these data, it was possible to determine an estimate of mortality through the variables of the complete blood count; these data were used as a quantitative measure of the aging process.

Ten to twenty samples were collected over more than three years. The name given by the study authors to this measure was Dynamic Organism State Index (DOSI).

DOSI was associated with variables such as age, illness, and lifestyle, and DOSI fluctuations were described as a measure of physiological resilience. This represents, in other words, the body’s ability to recover from the “aggressions” suffered, such as illnesses.

The study data revealed that these DOSI fluctuations increased with age and that there was a progressive increase in the recovery time from the “aggressions”.

Thus, the researchers concluded that aging was associated with a progressive loss of physiological resilience.

And would there be a critical point with the total loss of resilience with limited longevity?

These investigators suggested that this occurs between 120 and 150 years of age.

Well, will most of us soon be able to achieve that longevity? Sounds good, doesn’t it? What do you think?

At the same time, the levels of daily physical activity confirmed these observations, from which it can be concluded that with more daily physical activity, greater longevity.

But there is still a way to go.

We need to know the mechanisms that lead to the progressive loss of resilience caused by aging. Even those who age “more successfully” will not be able to mitigate this loss of physiological resilience.

However, the biological definition model developed by Pyrkov and collaborators (2021) can allow a greater understanding of aging mechanisms and the search for effective interventions to increase our longevity.

So far what can be said is that the end of life is an intrinsic biological property of each organism; this means that there is a fundamental or absolute limit to human life expectancy.

References:

• Camici GC et al. Eur Heart J. 2015;36(48):3392–3403.
• Carmona JJ et al — Biology of Healthy Aging and Longevity. Rev Invest Clin Jan-Feb 2016; 68 (1): 7–16.
• Kwak HB: Aging, exercise, and extracellular matrix in the heart. J Exerc Rehabil 2013;9: 338–347.
• Lakatta E. So! What’s aging? Is cardiovascular aging a disease? J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2015; 83:1–13.
• Najjar S, Scuteri A, Lakatta E. Arterial Aging. Hypertension. 2005;46(3):454–462.
• Pyrkov TV et al. Longitudinal analysis of blood markers reveals progressive loss of resilience and predicts human lifespan limit. Nat Commun 12, 2765 (2021).
• Testa G et al — Calorie Nutrition and dietary restriction mimetics: a strategy for improving healthy aging and longevity. Curr Pharm Des 2014; 20 (18): 2950–77.
• Wajgarten M — Medscape, 11 de dezembro de 2018.
• Wajgarten M — Medscape, 10 de junho de 2021.