Health and Aging: Unifying Concepts, Scores, Biomarkers and Pathways

Abstract

Despite increasing research efforts, there is a lack of consensus on defining aging or health. To understand the underlying processes, and to foster the development of targeted interventions towards increasing one’s health, there is an urgent need to find a broadly acceptable and useful definition of health, based on a list of (molecular) features; to operationalize features of health so that it can be measured; to identify predictive biomarkers and (molecular) pathways of health; and to suggest interventions, such as nutrition and exercise, targeted at putative causal pathways and processes. Based on a survey of the literature, we propose to define health as a state of an individual characterized by the core features of physiological, cognitive, physical and reproductive function, and a lack of disease. We further define aging as the aggregate of all processes in an individual that reduce its wellbeing , that is, its health or survival or both. We define biomarkers of health by their attribute of predicting future health better than chronological age. We define healthspan pathways as molecular features of health that relate to each other by belonging to the same molecular pathway. Our conceptual framework may integrate diverse operationalizations of health and guide precision prevention efforts.

Healthspan Maintenance and Prevention of Parkinson’s-like Phenotypes with Hydroxytyrosol and Oleuropein Aglycone in C. elegans

“…Healthspan is hard to define and a lot of parameters need to be considered, but, simplifying, it can be described as the period of life in which the individual is functionally independent and free from serious diseases [79,80]. Uncoupling of the correlation between lifespan and healthspan was discussed in detail for daf-2 C. elegans knockout mutants, in which the lifespan-extending inhibition of insulin signalling did [60,81] or did not [78] increase healthspan in parallel.…”

Potential ofCaenorhabditis elegansas an antiaging evaluation model for dietary phytochemicals: A review

“…However, lifespan is only a part of the aging process; worse health does not reflect a shorter lifespan, and lifespan extension does not mean being in a healthy situation (Bansal, Zhu, Yen, & Tissenbaum, 2015). Moreover, the longevity result is easily affected by the age of the nematode (Fuellen et al., 2019). With the increasing demand for high‐quality life and a nutritious diet, how to prolong a healthy lifespan and effectively prevent the age‐related diseases is the critical part of anti‐aging research.…”

“…These pathways, which correspond to the signaling pathways of humans and mammals, are highly conserved (Khan, Zou, Xiang, Chen, & Tian, 2019). A comprehensive description of homology between nematodes and human genes has been reviewed in the literature (Culetto & Sattelle, 2000;Kim, Underwood et al, 2018;Tacutu et al, 2012;Tacutu, Budovsky, & Fraifeld, 2010).Oxidative stress is considered to be a common critical factor in limiting the longevity of C. elegans and humans (Finkel & Holbrook, 2000). DR is known to successfully extend the lifespan of mammals, and similar results have been found in C. elegans (Wilson et al, 2006).…”

Are We Ill Because We Age?

“…Furthermore, most of the chronic disease burden today appears to be conditions that are rare or absent in hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, etc. Nonetheless, contemporary huntergatherers do age, and the symptoms of aging appear to be similar to what is observed in the healthiest older individuals in modern society: wrinkled skin and decreased speed, strength, and lower endurance likely related to sarcopenia (Fuellen et al, 2019). The diseases mentioned above are thus not manifestations of aging, but of the cumulative effects of decades of modern lifestyles and environmental exposures.…”