A new large-scale study by neurologists at Stanford University found that the brain’s biological age can predict a person’s lifespan.
The team developed a new method for measuring the brain’s biological age, which turned out to be one of the most reliable indicators of future health and longevity.
What Did the Scientists Discover?
Researchers analyzed blood samples from 45,000 adults and measured levels of more than 3,000 proteins. Most of these proteins are linked to specific organs, including the brain. Using those links, the team assessed the biological age of each organ system, according to BBC Science Focus.
If an organ’s protein profile differed significantly from the average for a person’s chronological age, the organ was classified as either “extremely old” or “extremely young.”
The researchers found that among all the measured organs, the brain was the most reliable predictor of lifespan.
“The brain is a marker of longevity. If your brain is biologically old, your mortality risk is higher. If your brain is young, you’re likely to live longer,” said Tony Wyss-Coray, the study’s senior author.
Participants with an “extremely old” brain had a 12-fold higher likelihood of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease within a decade compared with same-age people who had a biologically young brain.
An older biological brain increased the risk of death from any cause by 182 percent over a 15-year period, while a younger brain was associated with a 40 percent reduction in mortality.
Wyss-Coray said assessing the brain and other organs by their biological age could usher in a new era of preventive medicine.
“Ideally, this is the future of medicine. Right now, you go to the doctor when something hurts, and they look at what’s broken. We’re trying to intervene before a person develops an organ-specific disease,” the researcher explained.
The team is now working on commercializing the test, which they say could be available within the next two to three years, starting with key organs like the brain, heart, and immune system.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
