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Today, health-conscious people are no longer simply trying to avoid disease; they're trying to gain health. And not just the type of health that shows up in the mirror, but health that leads to a happy, vibrant, long life.
So we follow a healthy diet, get a good amount of physical activity, and take all the right supplements—but how do we know if any of it is working?
Beyond your basic yearly blood tests that provide a broad analysis of your current health, there are a handful of health markers you can test to assess how well your body is aging. These longevity tests can help steer your lifestyle and provide you with valuable feedback as to where your focus should be as you continue on your health journey.
In this article, we're going to break down three categories of longevity tests:
- Biomarkers to be aware of that directly contribute to aging
- Biomarkers that can actually measure your biological (not chronological) age
- Biomarkers that do a little of both
Let's explore all three and discuss how these markers can aid you on your path to optimal wellness.
Biomarkers That Directly Contribute To Aging
There are a handful of blood biomarkers that, when out of balance, can have a heavy hand in the aging process. You want to ensure these markers stay in range because when they go out of range, they can have detrimental downstream effects.
C-Reactive Protein (CRP)
A CRP test measures the amount of C-reactive protein in your blood, which is a key marker for inflammation. Although this test won't pinpoint exactly where the inflammation is coming from, it can give you insight into the amount of inflammation your body is dealing with.
CRP levels may also rise before you start feeling symptoms of inflammation, which makes this test helpful for nipping inflammation in the bud.
A range of factors can cause high CRP levels, but some of the most common include infections, autoimmune disorders, or inflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel disease[*].
There is also a version of this test called the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) test, which is more sensitive and can detect lower levels of inflammation in your body. This test is often used to assess early risk for heart disease.
HbA1c
An HbA1c test measures the amount of hemoglobin in your blood that has glucose attached to it. This test gives more insight into what your blood sugar levels have looked like for the last three months, as opposed to a standard fasting blood glucose test which only measures a moment in time.
If you have high HbA1c, it's a sign that you have high blood glucose, which can be an indicator of type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. Getting ahead of abnormal blood sugar levels is crucial for metabolic health and overall wellness, as the downstream impacts and complications of diabetes can affect almost every system in your body.
Insulin
Insulin is a critical hormone for metabolic health, as its primary role is to help shuttle blood glucose into your cells and out of circulation. Dysregulated insulin plays a central role in diabetes.
Insulin tests are typically ordered after someone presents with dysregulated blood glucose. However, keeping an eye on your insulin (even if blood glucose looks normal) can help you avoid any potential issues with this hormone.
Low or high blood glucose often presents as a symptom of insulin dysregulation. This means that before your blood glucose got out of control, your body was having issues with insulin sensitivity or insulin production. It's common for someone to present with insulin resistance while still having normal blood glucose levels. Therefore, tracking your insulin levels ahead of any potential issues with glucose may help you prevent further complications.
Biomarkers That Are Actual Measures Of Aging
In the last decade or so, we've developed ways to measure our bodies' biological (not chronological) age. While your chronological age is a measure of the years you've been alive (how many birthdays you've celebrated), your biological age measures how old your body is compared to the average person your age.
If longevity is the aim, then Ideally, your biological age will be younger than your chronological age.
A handful of tests measure biological age, but three of the most well-known include the phenotypic age test, telomere length, and DNA methylation.
Phenotypic Age
PhenoAge is a test that was developed based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This test includes the assessment of nine biomarkers, plus a person's chronological age, to determine one's aging status and health span.
The nine biomarkers include:
- Albumin
- Creatinine
- Glucose
- C-reactive protein
- Lymphocyte percentage
- Mean cell volume
- Red blood cell distribution width
- Alkaline phosphatase
- White blood cell count
It's believed that the PhenoAge test may be able to determine and predict aging outcomes such as cancer risk, healthy lifespan, Alzheimer's risk, and all-cause mortality[*].
Telomere Length
Measuring telomere length is another common method for determining longevity.
Telomeres are proteins that sit at the end of your chromosomes, protecting your chromosomes from damage. As you age your telomeres slowly begin to get shorter, but other lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, metabolic health, stress, and exposure to toxins may also play a role.
Research shows that people with longer telomeres tend to have a better life expectancy, which points to the potential that longer telomeres indicate healthier cells. That said, there is some question as to whether increasing telomere length can have a positive impact on lifespan.
DNA Methylation
Another determinant of aging is something called DNA methylation. DNA methylation is a process where methyl groups are added to DNA, changing their expression (but not altering the DNA sequence).
Research shows that DNA methylation may give us insight into longevity, as different methylation patterns occur with aging. More specifically, as we get older methyl groups may accumulate at different sites, altering our gene expression in a way that is associated with accelerated aging. By understanding what type of methylation is occurring in your body, you may get a picture of how fast, or in what ways, your body is aging[*].
Biomarkers That Both Contribute To & Measure Aging
While the above markers can provide insight into potential disease processes and specifics around biological age, the following markers give us a combination of both.
Keeping these markers in balance is crucial for longevity, as their imbalance may start a downstream cascade that can accelerate the aging process. At the same time, their current status tells us how well our organs and tissues are functioning.
In other words, these markers not only contribute to the aging process, but they can also give us insight into how fast or slow our bodies are aging.
NAD levels
NAD (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide) is a coenzyme found in all living cells and is essential for energy metabolism, DNA repair, antioxidant activity, and more. NAD levels decline with age, and it's thought that lower levels of NAD may be a risk factor for chronic disease and aging. There is currently interest in studying the impact of NAD on longevity, with the potential for Improved levels of NAD to enhance our lifespan[*].
Sex Hormones
The balance of your sex hormones can play a significant role in how well you age. For both men and women (of reproductive age), the status of your fertility can give you a direct picture of your hormone health and vice versa.
Because all hormones influence one another, it can become a challenge to maintain sex hormone balance when we experience stress, metabolic dysfunction, and any other number of issues that throw our physiology off. This is why understanding the state of your hormones can give such a prominent picture of overall health and wellness and why creating balance in your hormonal system can help improve longevity.
For men, the major sex hormone to keep an eye on is testosterone, while women should focus on progesterone and estrogen. That said, both men and women can experience fluctuations in testosterone, so this is a hormone to be aware of for both sexes.
Liver Function Tests
As your primary organ for detoxification, with over 500 different functions in your body, the health of your liver plays a direct role in longevity and a damaged liver is a major chronic disease risk factor.
Liver function tests measure liver enzymes, total proteins, bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and blood clotting (prothrombin). Each of these markers is produced by your liver and can provide information about how well your liver is functioning.
In addition to looking at the overall health of your liver, these tests can also help to identify any potential damage or disease in the liver.
Kidney Function Tests
Any type of kidney disease or failure can significantly impact your health and longevity. Therefore, keeping an eye on your kidneys to ensure everything is working optimally is always a good idea.
Kidney function tests involve both blood and urine analysis. The blood analysis typically includes markers such as blood urea nitrogen (BUN), estimated GFR (glomerular filtration rate), Serum creatinine, and Microalbuminuria. The urinalysis looks for blood or proteins in your urine.
Cardiovascular Function Tests
Research shows that those with greater cardiovascular health have a longer life expectancy[*)]. With heart disease being the leading cause of death globally, the fact that your heart plays a pivotal role in longevity should come as no surprise.
While there are several tests your doctor may order if they think you are at risk of cardiovascular disease, some common blood markers to keep an eye on include blood pressure, high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), blood lipids (including total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and lipoprotein A), plasma ceramides, natriuretic peptides, and troponin T.
Takeaway
As we continue to discover more ways to track our physiology, we, as individuals, are attaining a greater grasp on the fate of our health. The information we gain from these tests can give us the direction we need to shift our lifestyle in a way that promotes good health, well-being and balance.
At the same time, they can also serve as red flags when our health is starting to slip. As long as we keep our fingers on the pulse of what's happening in our body, we have the power to take the steps we need to correct it and bring it back to optimal function.
