Are aging tests accurate?

US Experts say biological age calculation methods do not provide a complete picture of health and are not clinically meaningful.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, an epigenetics and aging expert and author of Younger , explains that your biological age is the rate at which you physically age, while your chronological age is the number of years you live. Your actual age is always increasing, but your biological age can be reduced through certain medical measures or healthy habits. For example, some people have a chronological age of 50, but their biological age is 45.

To determine biological age, people buy test kits that cost hundreds of dollars and test samples of saliva, blood cells, blood, or urine. Researchers have also been able to determine the ages of wild polar bears, elephants, zebras, horses, and more than 100 other non-human mammals using similar techniques.

All tests work by measuring chemical markers in DNA. These markers change over time, responding to environmental and biological influences, lifestyle or genetics. Essentially, it can measure the extent and speed of human aging. However, professor Steve Horvath, University of California (UCLA), said these tests are only for reference.

In 2011, Professor Horvath published pioneering research showing that chemicals in human saliva could be tested to monitor health status.

"At the time, the strange invention was that you took saliva in a test cup and measured biological age, but it was ignored by researchers," he said.

More than a decade later, a slew of companies have invested in the field, promising to measure biological age through blood tests or saliva analysis.

“It’s great to see this come to fruition. But there’s also the danger of something becoming so popular before it’s scientifically perfected. That’s what worries me,” Horvath said.

Biological age measurements are not yet clinically meaningful. Photo: Freepik — Biological age measurements are not yet clinically meaningful. Photo: *Freepik*

In fact, biological age testing does not provide a complete picture of a person's health. Other indicators such as blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, and blood sugar also affect biological age.

The GrimAge test, he says, is a more accurate predictor of longevity and mortality. The GrimAge test measures chemical changes in 1,030 different DNA letters to give a rough indication of the rate of aging. But even GrimAge cannot be used as a measure of mortality.

Biological age tests typically calculate a person’s life expectancy at the time of measurement, which means they’re only valid if the person doesn’t make any changes to their lifestyle in the future. Right now, the tests don’t have much clinical significance. But Horvath hopes that one day, doctors will be able to test a patient’s biological age and recommend drugs or interventions to improve life expectancy.

People who want to improve their health and live longer should focus on simple habits that are backed by scientific evidence to slow the aging process, he said. He recommends quitting smoking, increasing vegetable intake, exercising, and adopting a lifestyle that reduces chronic inflammation.

He also encourages people to eat less sugar and chocolate and adopt a diet rich in nuts.

Thuc Linh (According to Insider )

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