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Biomolecular shifts occur in our 40s and 60s (2024)

Time marches on predictably, but biological aging is anything but constant, according to a new Stanford Medicine study.

Snyder, the Stanford W. Ascherman, MD, FACS Professor in Genetics, and his colleagues were inspired to look at the rate of molecular and microbial shifts by the observation that the risk of developing many age-linked diseases does not rise incrementally along with years. In people in their 40s, significant changes were seen in the number of molecules related to alcohol, caffeine and lipid metabolism; cardiovascular disease; and skin and muscle. A study in mice finds that white matter — the tissue that transmits messages around the brain — shows the greatest changes as the animals age.

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