Everyone has the anecdote of the one family member who drank and smoked, ate candy and sweets almost exclusively, and yet still lived to be almost a hundred years old and was sharp as a tack whe whole time. But on the flipside, we all know someone on the opposite end, who took care of themselves and still died young, sometimes apparently out of the blue.
A recent study, conducted by sixty-five scientists in seven countries, seems to suggest that the answer may lie in our DNA. The study analyzed the DNA of more than thirteen thousand people across both the United States and Europe, and measured the “aging rates” of each individual. Scientists calculated the aging of blood and other tissues by tracking the natural process that alters DNA over time. By comparing the chronological age to the blood’s DNA age, scientists could create a “biologic age” that was associated with each person’s life expectancy above their chronological age.
What they found, in a sample of women is that 5% of those women were aging at a faster biological age than the rest, resulting in shorter life expectancy. This level of accelerated aging increased their risk of death by close to 50%. For example, two women who both smoke might have different aging rates, which makes one much more likely to die than the other.
This preliminary finding may explain why some individuals die young. But this doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. While the rate of aging does play a role, factors like smoking, diabetes, or high blood pressure are much stronger indicators of mortality.