Women tend to experience accelerated aging around the ages of 30 and 50, according to a study that analyzed various molecular and physical markers. This could be attributed to hormonal changes that occur during childbirth or menopause.
In recent years, it has been recognized that aging doesn’t progress at the same rate for everyone, and certain factors like stress and smoking can accelerate the process.
Scientists use different methods to measure the rate of aging, such as analyzing the length of telomeres (DNA pieces that protect chromosomes), studying facial dimensions, and examining epigenetic markers on DNA. However, these measures may have limited accuracy when used individually, says Weiqi Zhang from the Beijing Institute of Genomics in China.
Now, Zhang and her colleagues have conducted a comprehensive study on aging in women by combining multiple measures. They recruited 113 women aged 20 to 66 from a city in southeast China, who had no known medical conditions. The researchers collected samples of blood, urine, and feces, took photos of their faces, asked about their diet and lifestyle, and measured various clinical factors like height, weight, blood pressure, lung capacity, grip strength, and balance.
They analyzed the participants’ gene and protein expression, telomere lengths, facial dimensions, gut microbiomes, hormones, lipids, immune markers, and other measures to create a composite aging clock.
The analysis revealed that women who had healthy diets rich in fruits and grains tended to be biologically “younger” than their chronological age. It also showed that women in their 30s and 50s exhibited the fastest rate of aging. These are the ages when some women give birth or go through menopause, both of which involve hormonal changes. Hormone replacement therapy seemed to slow down aging in women aged 45 and older.
However, as the study had a relatively small number of participants, further research is needed to validate these findings. The researchers plan to conduct a similar study in men to investigate if they age differently.
