The metabolic clock will show the rate of aging

The metabolic clock they created evaluates the body’s condition not by date of birth, but by how it functions here and now. For this purpose, a special technology is used — NMR-metabolomics, which analyzes the smallest molecules in the blood. Add machine learning to this, and the output is a model showing a person’s biological age. And this is a much more accurate indicator of health than a record in a passport.

The scientists tested their system on data from more than 20,000 people collected as part of a major health study in the Basque Country. The results were impressive. In people with prostate cancer, their metabolic age was on average 5 years higher than the real one. And in patients with fatty liver disease, they are immediately 14 years older. Such metabolic distortions remain unnoticeable by conventional tests, but new technology makes it possible to identify them.

Interestingly, the watch can not only show the rate of aging. They can be used to evaluate more than 25 clinical parameters from a single blood sample, such as the level of inflammation or kidney function. This means that doctors get their hands on a tool that can give a broad picture of human health without dozens of different tests.

Scientists are confident that in the future their technique will become part of personalized medicine. After all, if you know that the body is aging faster than the calendar shows, you can take timely measures: change your lifestyle, adjust your diet, and schedule additional examinations.

One of the authors of the study, Dr. Oscar Millet, notes: “The difference between chronological and metabolic age is a clue. It shows where the first signs of the disease may be hiding, even before complaints and diagnoses appear.”

The main idea is simple: Our body stores a lot more information than we used to think, and science is just learning to read it. Medicine has a chance not only to treat diseases, but to prevent them, returning people to years of active life.