New Delhi, June 28 (IANS). A person may be thirty years old in terms of his age, but the internal condition of his body i.e. biological age may be much more than this. According to scientists, this difference may also be an important factor associated with cancer cases at a younger age.
Recently, a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis has found that people of the new generations are aging biologically faster than the previous generations. This research has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine and it highlights why cancer cases are increasing in people aged 55 years and younger across the world.
In the medical world, cancer occurring at the age of 55 years or less is called ‘early-onset cancer’. In the last few decades, there has been an increase in the cases of colorectal (intestinal cancer), lung cancer, uterine cancer and many other types of cancer among the youth. Earlier it was linked only to lifestyle or genetic reasons, but now scientists are looking for deeper biological reasons behind it.
In this new study, an attempt was made to understand the difference between chronological age i.e. actual age and biological age i.e. age measured on the basis of body functionality. Chronological age simply refers to the years passed since birth, whereas biological age refers to how healthy and functional the body’s organs are. Two people may be the same age, but their biological age may be different, which reflects their health status.
The researchers analyzed two large datasets for this study. It included health data from more than 154,000 people in the United Kingdom and more than 10,000 people in the United States. Scientists studied biomarkers in the blood that reflect metabolism, organ function and the aging process in the body.
Along with this, proteins associated with various organs and tissues of the body were also analyzed. This helped researchers understand which parts of the body are aging faster, such as the immune system and fat tissue.
The results of the study clearly revealed that the speed of biological aging was found to be higher in people of recent generations. This trend was seen equally in both America and Britain. The researchers further examined whether accelerated biological aging was associated with increased cancer risk. The findings found that people whose biological age was increasing more rapidly also had a higher risk of developing cancer at a younger age. The risk of early-stage solid tumors was found to be about 15 percent higher in individuals with the highest biological age.
Specifically, it was found that people whose immune systems appeared to be older than expected had an increased risk of lung cancer. At the same time, those whose adipose tissue system was aging rapidly were found to be more likely to develop colorectal cancer.
After these findings, the most important question that arises is why the new generations are aging rapidly biologically. Scientists believe that many reasons can work together behind this. Modern lifestyles may include increased obesity, metabolic problems such as insulin resistance and fatty liver, and a diet rich in highly processed foods and sugar. Apart from this, lack of physical activity, working while sitting for a long time, lack of sleep and mental stress also have a deep impact on the body. Factors such as environmental changes and pollution can also affect the biological aging process.
Although this study does not prove that accelerated biological aging directly causes cancer, it does show a strong connection between the two. More research is needed in this direction to understand how modern lifestyle and environment affect the aging process of the body.
–IANS
PIM/AS
