Are you over the hill?
A shocking new study has pinpointed the exact window when the human aging process begins to accelerate — and it happens well before you reach senior status.
Researchers found the body breaks down unevenly, with one vital organ taking the hardest hit and possibly speeding up damage elsewhere.
In the study, Chinese scientists analyzed 516 tissue samples from 76 organ donors between the ages of 14 and 68, all of whom died from accidental traumatic brain injury.
The samples covered all of the body’s major biological systems, including cardiovascular, digestive, immune, endocrine and skin.
Using advanced analysis, the team found that the number of 48 proteins linked to disease became significantly more prominent as donor age increased.
The proteins were tied to a host of conditions, from cardiovascular disease and tissue fibrosis to fatty liver and liver-related tumors.
But not all organs aged equally. Protein-level changes in the adrenal gland — the hormone-producing powerhouse — began showing up as early as age 30.
But the real shift happened between ages 45 and 55, when protein expression ramped up rapidly across several major organ systems.
The most dramatic changes showed up in the aorta, the body’s main artery responsible for sending oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
“Temporal analysis revealed an aging inflection around age 50, with blood vessels being a tissue that ages early and is markedly susceptible to aging,” the study authors wrote.
One protein in particular, known as GAS6, stood out. Its levels rose in the aorta as donors got older — and researchers think it may play a central role in triggering aging throughout the body.
In experiments, the team injected young mice with GAS6. After, they found that the rodents developed clear signs of premature aging, including weak grip strength, poor balance and visible damage to their blood vessels.
“Blood vessels seem to act as a conduit carrying molecules that promote aging throughout the body,” Guanghui Liu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who lead the study, said in an interview with local news outlet The Chosun Daily.
The findings reinforce the growing belief that aging doesn’t happen on a straight timeline. However, further research is needed to declare 50 a biological breaking point, according to Maja Olecka, a scientist at the Leibniz Institute on Aging — Fritz Lipmann Institute in Germany, who was not involved in the study.
“There are these waves of age-related changes,” Olecka told Scientific American. “But it is still difficult to make a general conclusion about the timing of the inflection points.”
In the US, nearly 58 million Americans are 65 and older — and that number is projected to soar to nearly 89 million by 2060, according to the National Institute on Aging.
While good health is key to independence and productivity later in life, a staggering 93% of older Americans have at least one chronic condition — and nearly 80% suffer from two or more.
“These insights may facilitate the development of targeted interventions for ageing and age-related diseases, paving the way to improve the health of older adults,” the study authors concluded.
