When does the body really start aging? The answer may surprise you.
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied proteins in tissue taken from about 70 people ages 14 to 68, according to the study published July 25 in the journal Cell.
These proteins give scientists a window of when the aging process may begin on a cellular level, said Dr. Thomas Blackwell, associate dean for graduate medical education and professor of medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Proteins are created in a 'factory' using instructions from messenger RNA, he said. A sign of aging is when the cells' ability to make proteins correctly and efficiently starts to break down.
By looking at tissues taken from organs throughout the body, including the heart, liver, pancreas, spleen, lung, skin and muscles, researchers determined that aging starts to accelerate from 45 to 55.
They also found that organs aged at different rates. For example, the spleen, aorta (the body's main artery) and adrenal gland (responsible for producing hormones) showed signs of aging at around 30. The aorta also saw the biggest changes in protein levels around the ages of 45 and 55.
'This is just a beautiful roadmap that gives us an initial overview of organ aging,' said Neville Sanjana, associate professor of biology, neuroscience and physiology at New York University and a faculty member at the New York Genome Center.
The study's findings could have a lot of implications in future research into treatments for chronic conditions related to aging that would not only add decades to patients' lifespan, but also their health span, which is the period of a person's life spent in good health, he said.
'To me, that's exciting,' Sanjana said. 'This kind of data generation is so powerful for folks who want to do things like bioengineering and creating new kinds of therapies to restore healthy aging.'
For Blackwell, the study also shows that patients still have the chance to change their aging trajectory later in life – 'but the window is short,' he said.
The best ways to add healthy years to your life are to maintain a healthy level of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, don't smoke and drink "very little," Blackwell said.
Research has shown diet, exercise, genetics and, sometimes, luck, impact longevity. However, the new study suggests people may still see benefits from changes later in life.
'Starting at 45 to 50, you could gain as much as 10 years of healthy life and this study just shows the truth of that at a cellular level,' he said.
Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aging: Body starts changing after 50. Here's what happens.
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