New research seems to confirm what many people feel – that the aging process accelerates around 50.
From that age on, tissues and organs begin a rapid deterioration, according to a study published last week in the journal Cell. Previous research has found organs decline at different rates. The new study adds to the understanding of aging as a process that happens in fits and starts rather than in a linear fashion.
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"We're like a car. Some parts wear out faster," Michael Snyder, a geneticist at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, told Scientific American.
Snyder was not involved in the new study. But Snyder's own research, published in 2024, found two distinct inflection points in the aging process, 44 and 60, at which points organs have steeper descents.
For the new study, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing collected more than 500 tissue and plasma samples from 76 people, ages 14 to 68. From the samples, the researchers analyzed nearly 13,000 proteins associated with the cardiovascular, digestive, immune, respiratory, endocrine and other systems.
The analysis revealed that at around age 50, tissues and organs start a more precipitous decline than in the previous years. Veins are particularly susceptible to decline. The aorta, the body's largest blood vessel, which carries oxygenated blood from the heart to other areas, was most affected at about 50, according to the study.
The research improves an understanding of the aging process, particularly through the "lens of proteins." Insights from the study may help with the development of targeted interventions for age-related health issues to improve the lives of older adults, the researchers wrote.