Do you want to keep your organs ‘young’? Then reconsider your lifestyle.

Your date of birth may not match the age of various organs in your body. That’s what researchers say in a new study. In addition, it turns out that different organs can have different ages. Some age a lot faster than others. And that mainly has to do with your lifestyle.

Study

In the study, the researchers looked at blood, stool, photos and fitness results from more than 4,000 people between the ages of 20 and 45 (52 percent female and 48 percent male). A total of 403 properties were measured. The research team studied the metabolism, the immune system, body composition, physical fitness and intestinal flora, among other things. Using static modeling and other techniques, they then attempted to determine the biological age of various organs. “Our goal was to measure the aging rate of the organs,” researcher Moming Zhou told Scientias.nl from. Contrary to previous studies, this was not done among the elderly who often suffer from chronic diseases, but among young and healthy adults, where the aging process is still largely unknown.

Multiple ‘clocks’

Because of the difference in gender-specific traits, the participants were divided into two groups: men and women. Based on the findings, their organs were then classified as older or younger than their real age. It leads to a striking conclusion. Because while we’ve all heard of the “biological clock,” the team is discovering that our bodies actually have multiple “clocks,” which vary widely based on factors such as genetics and lifestyle.

Different speeds

It means that some organs in your body age faster than others. Surprising? partly. “For example, we already know that the dominant hand ages faster than the other,” Zhou says. “Our skin also ages differently in different parts of our body. This is how the first wrinkles often appear in the neck.” According to Zhou, however, it is also very important that we gain a better understanding of the ‘age’ of different organs. “Aging is an important risk factor for many diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders,” he explains. “If we want to better predict these diseases, we need to know at an early stage which part of the body is dysfunctional. And the biological age of certain organs lifts a corner of the veil.”

Factors

The researchers discovered that the biological age of different organs is based on different factors. And some were actually to be expected. For example, it appears that the rate at which various organs age is partly dependent on lifestyle. “There are many well-established factors that influence organ aging,” Zhou says. “Smoking has an effect on the lungs and drinking on the liver. However, most factors are not specific to one organ, they only primarily affect one organ. Then the effects extend to other bodily systems.”

Gut flora and the kidneys

Although the researchers had expected that, for example, a healthy weight and good condition would have a positive effect on organs, they were surprised by other findings. For example, a diverse gut flora indicates a younger gut. But, at the same time, the biological age of the kidneys is much higher as a result. “So it seems that kidney age and gut age are negatively correlated,” said Zhou.

Statement

One explanation for this is that a diverse composition of the whole of micro-organisms in the gut means that the kidneys have to work harder. Because the kidneys are put under more strain in this case, they subsequently age a lot faster. “It seems like there’s a tradeoff in balancing different functioning systems,” Zhou says. Moreover, this observation leads to a whole new perspective on the aging of organs. “Before discovering this negative correlation between gut and kidney aging, we expected the factors that influence aging to be either beneficial or harmful,” explains Zhou. “However, our results suggest that it is not so black and white. This shows that we actually still don’t know much, including the interactions between organs during aging. I hope we will learn more about this in the future.”

A pressing question is, of course, how we can keep our organs as ‘young’ as possible. “In general, exercise more and eat less,” Zhou says when asked. More research is needed to get to the bottom of this, though. For example, the researchers plan to contact the study participants regularly to monitor the development of aging and validate their findings. Subsequently, the aim is to further classify the characteristics of aging and to better study the interactions between organs. “We will start collecting more data on diet and lifestyle,” Zhou said. “Ultimately, we hope to be able to link the aging processes of each organ to specific diets, activities and other factors.”