![]() ![]() ![]() “People have much more power over this number.” “This is much more reflective of lifestyle and behavior” than a genetic test, says Levine. Levine views the test as a tool for personalized prevention, enabling people to see if their healthy lifestyle changes cause their epigenetic age to decline, making them biologically younger. It measures patterns at 150,000 DNA methylation sites, which she says enhances its predictive value. Beginning in January, her newest epigenetic clock will be sold as a commercial test beginning in January for $500 from the company Elysium Health, where she is head of bioinformatics. Her test was designed to reflect the risk of major diseases as well as overall lifespan. Morgan Levine, a gerontologist and biostatistician at Yale University, created DNAm PhenoAge when she previously worked in Horvath’s lab. It’s a kind of shorthand, a simple way to convey whether you’re aging more quickly or slowly than the average person. ![]() That doesn’t exactly mean Horvath will live precisely two years longer than expected. His identical twin took the test, and interestingly, his result was exactly the same: 48.9. Nonetheless, Horvath took his own test when he was 51, to see what it would tell him about how fast he is aging. “It’s not the case we could nail down the date of death of an individual within plus or minus one year,” Horvath says. It’s quite another to accurately forecast one specific individual’s lifespan. It’s one thing to say that a group of people who share a similar pattern of methylation changes will, on balance, live longer. For another, the test was designed to apply to a population, rather than an individual. For one thing, random events-a serious infection, a car accident-play a huge role in lifespan. You won’t learn exactly how long you have left to live. Generally, though, these tests aren’t fortune tellers. But already, some life insurance companies have begun using the tests, along with the usual physical exams and family history, to predict your lifespan. Just be aware that tests from different companies will measure different sets of patterns, and the results may not match.Įpigenetic tests don’t need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and company disclaimers state that they don’t screen for or assess disease risk. What’s enticing about this is that if you then make efforts to reduce your biological age by changing your habits, the test might be able to give you a reality check, and tell you whether you are succeeding. If you are fit and have a healthy diet, you may detect the benefits. If you smoke or if you are obese, your epigenetic markers are likely to be biologically older. Spit into a tube or prick your finger to take a few drops of blood, and send the samples off along with $299 or $500 depending on the test. Still, they can give you some interesting information. If you adopt a new exercise regimen or are exposed to pollutants, your epigenetic patterns may change for the better or worse. That process is influenced by your environment and the things you do or don’t do. They do so by altering gene activity, like a complex set of controls that turn genes up or down, on or off.Įpigenetics plays a role throughout life, from embryo development to aging, and some epigenetic changes accumulate as the years pass in a way that literally inscribes your age upon your body. But your epigenetic patterns change based on what you eat, how much you sleep or exercise, and what substances you are exposed to-and ultimately influence your risk of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes. Now, a handful of companies are offering commercial blood or saliva tests based on the science of epigenetics-a chance to find out how old you truly are.ĭNA itself is fixed the genes you’ve inherited will forever make you more or less prone to certain conditions. While genetic testing might tell you where you came from, epigenetics promises a glimpse into the future. The pattern of chemical chains that attach to the DNA in your cells-on-off switches known as epigenetic markers-can reveal how swiftly you are aging, and perhaps even how much longer you will live. Now science may have found an answer, in the form of molecular augury. From the beginning of time, humankind has searched for the secret to a long life. ![]()
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