Researchers Discover 2 Health Metrics That Can Lower Your Risk of Death by 42%
They have an outsized impact on lifespan and healthspan.
When you’re young, it’s all too easy to take your good health for granted. After all, the vast majority of chronic illnesses, from cancer to heart disease, are linked to chronological age.
However, medical researchers are increasingly exploring how lesser-known age-related metrics might impact health and longevity. They say that the biological age of your organs—distinct from how many trips you’ve taken around the sun—could more accurately predict how long you live, and in what condition.
That’s because biological age provides a much clearer picture of how our bodies are actually changing over time. Rather than simply counting the number of years you’ve lived, biological age looks at how well your organs are functioning. Some parts of your body might be aging faster or slower than others, and it turns out that a small few carry an outsized influence.
In fact, a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine has found that two metrics of biological age are especially impactful when it comes to prolonging and predicting both your lifespan and your healthspan.
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Having a biologically youthful brain and immune system correlates with a longer life.
Specifically, the study determined that people with youthful brains had a 40 percent lower risk of dying, and those with younger immune systems had a 42 percent reduced risk. Subjects who had both a biologically young brain and immune system experienced the greatest protection against mortality.
The research team, led by Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, a professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford University, analyzed blood samples from 44,498 participants in the UK Biobank, all of whom were between the ages of 40 and 70.
By measuring around 3,000 proteins found in the bloodstream, they assessed the health of 11 major organs. They then used AI models to estimate each organ’s biological age based on these protein patterns. An organ was labeled “aged” if its biological age was higher than the person’s actual age, and “youthful” if it was not.
Lead author Hamilton Oh, PhD, recently told the outlet Study Finds that he was “definitely surprised” by the outcomes of the research. Especially surprising was the team’s discovery that having youthful arteries did not extend the subjects’ lives.
“I expected many more organs to be linked to longevity, but our data suggest the immune system and brain are key,” he explained. “After thinking more about it, though, it makes intuitive sense. Both the brain and immune system control so many parts of our physiology—the brain through nerve branches that sprout from the spinal cord and the immune system through resident and migratory cells present in all tissues.”
As an example, the study authors pointed out that having a youthful brain protects against heart failure and lung disease, in addition to staving off more obvious conditions, such as dementia or stroke.
“These systems may be the guardians of our whole body,” Oh said.
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Having aged organs can greatly increase the risk of death.
In subjects with multiple aged organs, the death risk increased notably. Having two to four aged organs was associated with a 2.3 times higher death risk, while having five to seven aged organs increased risk by 4.5 times. Those with eight or more aged organs saw their risk of death increase by 8.3 times.
“More than 60 percent of people with 8 or more extremely aged organs at blood draw died within 15 years,” the researchers noted.
Asked how everyday people can lower their organs’ biological age, Oh emphasized that more research is needed: “A major question is what does brain and immune system youth actually mean biologically? If we can figure this out, we may find new ways to keep our brains and immune systems youthful.”
In the meantime, your best bet is to practice lifestyle interventions that promote overall health, brain health, and a healthy immune system.
“Exercise, diet, sleep, and low stress are tried and true ways to live longer and healthier,” Oh advises. “A healthy lifestyle goes a long way!”
