Study finds people under 50 are ageing faster biologically. Here's why it matters

A study has found that the younger generations are ageing biologically faster, which is contributing to the rise in cancer cases. The disease has been linked with older people, but a troubling trend shows people in their 20s, 30s and 40s also suffering from it. Scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis made the findings, which indicate that faster ageing is a major reason for it. Typically, lifestyle and eating habits have been blamed for it, but the observations show that something larger is going on under the surface. The study was published June 22 in Nature Medicine.

A person’s chronological age, that is, how long a person has been alive, and biological age, based on the condition of the body’s tissues, organs, and systems, are two different things. Genetics, lifestyle, environmental exposures, and other factors determine a person’s biological age. The researchers found that people born in recent decades are biologically older than previous generations. So on the inside, a 40-year-old today would have an older biological profile as compared to a 40-year-old a few decades ago.

The researchers say that this could explain the reason for the rise in cancer cases among younger people, that is, those diagnosed before age 55. “Our ultimate goal is to decode how modern environments become biologically embedded to drive cancer risk, transforming prevention from broad recommendations to personalised interventions,” Yin Cao, ScD, a molecular epidemiologist and associate professor of surgery and medicine at WashU Medicine. “This brings us closer to identifying risk earlier and developing prevention strategies that are tailored to an individual’s biology.”

In the past years, scientists have looked at obesity, poor diet, alcohol use, sedentary lifestyles, metabolic disorders, and other factors as reasons for the rising cancer cases among young people. They have been flagged as possible contributors, although their individual effects are often relatively small. With early biological aging, heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, and other chronic conditions, can also affect a person.