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To promote healthy aging, focus on the environment
Daniel W Belsky1, Andrea A Baccarelli2
1Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center and Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.
Nature Aging
|November 9, 2023
Summary
Promoting healthy aging and health equity requires focusing on environmental factors. Geroscience tools can measure aging, enabling interventions to prevent age-related diseases and promote longer, healthier lives.
Area of Science:
- Interdisciplinary research at the intersection of biology, toxicology, and social/behavioral sciences.
- Geroscience and environmental science of aging.
Background:
- Global disparities in healthy lifespan necessitate novel approaches to promote health equity.
- Environmental factors significantly influence aging trajectories and health outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose leveraging geroscience to advance the environmental science of aging.
- To highlight the potential of measuring biological aging to inform interventions.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing emerging geroscience concepts and tools.
- Measuring the pace and progress of biological aging processes in individuals.
- Studying the impact of environmental changes on aging trajectories from early life.
Main Results:
- The capacity to measure biological aging allows for early detection of environmental influences.
- Interventions can be timed to prevent or delay age-related disease and disability.
Conclusions:
- Focusing on the environment is crucial for promoting healthy aging and achieving health equity.
- Geroscience offers a powerful framework to understand and modify aging in response to environmental exposures.
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