From mild to wild: The top 6 anti-aging science breakthroughs of 2023

The internet is full of snake oil salesmen hocking anti-aging products, but legitimate scientists are also researching the mechanisms of aging, looking for ways to turn back the clock.

The new year is our annual reminder that time keeps marching forward, no matter how much we may want it to slow down - or turn back.

Taking a look back at 2023, scientists are untangling the secrets of aging, uncovering new potential treatments and giving more weight to tried and true healthy lifestyle habits.

In one case, an experimental gene therapy takes advantage of natural proteins.

At the more practical end of the spectrum, scientists have discovered just how beneficial hydration can be. +8 View gallery

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The internet is full of snake oil salesmen hocking anti-aging products, but legitimate scientists are also researching the mechanisms of aging, looking for ways to turn back the clock TRENDING

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Over time, our skin loses elasticity, and our brains slow down. Changes to gene expression can make us more susceptible to age-related diseases.

Our bodies accumulate dead cells as our recycling mechanisms slow down. Eventually, we die.

These biological markers of aging are seen as basic facts of life. A growing number of scientists are questioning them, though.

Do we have to age? Or is aging a disease that can be treated?

So, as one year ends and another begins, we're counting down the top six scientific findings in the field of anti-aging science.

While some treatments tested in these studies aren't ready for prime time, many are low-tech and free - all about tweaking habits rather than buying expensive medications or devices.

1. Reduce stress to lower your biological age

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Stress can make your biological age exceed your chronological age, but relieving the stress can repair this effect. Long life doesn't need to cost a lot of money if you can find ways to relax and relieve stress

Relaxation may be one of the keys to a longer life, according to research published in May in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Scientists found that mice and people with stressful experiences like surgery or illness show increased signs of biological aging.

However, relieving stress can reverse the changes.

Harvard and Duke University researchers measured DNA methylation as a sign of biological age. DNA methylation is the way our bodies turn specific genes on and off.

Over time, certain genes being turned on or others being turned off can increase our risk of certain cancers or forms of dementia.

In the stressed mice and people, their patterns of DNA methylation changed after stress, making their biological age surpass their chronological age.

These changes happened over short periods of time - days or months. Relieving the stress partly or fully reverses these changes just as quickly, though.

So even if you don't have access to blood testing to track your biological age, relieving stress whenever you can may help you live longer.

2. Cut calories achieves the same life boost as quitting smoking

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Diet plays a vital role in a long and healthy life, but there's no need for drastic changes. One study showed that a 25-percent calorie reduction can make a measurable difference

People who cut their caloric intake by just 25 percent can slow their biological aging by 3 percent - reducing the risk of early death as much as quitting smoking - according to a February study in Nature Aging.

This research took place over two years, with 185 people completing the DNA analysis. It was conducted by scientists at Columbia University.

Like in the stress study, the researchers looked at DNA methylation.

Even though there was not a huge difference between the 68 who reduced their calories by 25 percent and the 117 who didn't, the scientists did find that there was a statistically significant rate of change in methylation.

Over the two-year period, methylation changes happened about three percent more slowly in the group that simply ate a little less.

In other words, these people's biological clocks were slowing down enough that it would make a difference over multiple years.

This can correspond to a 10 to 15 percent reduction in risk of early death, the authors wrote. About the same benefit as smokers who quit smoking. +8 View gallery

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Mice that were genetically tweaked to produce cell-protecting proteins lived much longer than the mice who were not

3. A gene therapy reversed aging - in mice

In a yet-to-be-published study from January, mice injected with an experimental gene therapy lived 109 percent longer after the treatment than mice who received a placebo.

In the 'breakthrough' experiment, scientists studied mice with gene mutations that made them age faster than normal.

When the mice were 124 weeks old (approximately equivalent to 77 years old in people), they used a harmless virus to deliver small tweaks to the genetics of these mice, programming them to produce a set of proteins called Yamanaka factors.

These proteins have been known since the early 2000s to play a role in keeping cells healthy.

Giving the mice an antibiotic triggered their bodies to produce the Yamanaka factors.

The mice that received the gene therapy lived another 18.5 weeks, but the mice that received placebo only lived 8.9 weeks longer.

Mice that received the treatment were also less frail and had healthier hearts and livers.

This gene therapy is not yet available for people, but experts say it could be within five years. +8 View gallery

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Women were asked to follow a veggie- and liver-rich diet and lifestyle plan for eight weeks. Their blood was tested for biomarkers of aging at the beginning and end of the study

4. Veggies, sleep, and plenty of liver

A set of diet and lifestyle changes reversed aging in a group of six healthy women, according to a March study in the journal Aging.

It may be hard to stick to dramatic diet and exercise changes, but these strategies have some significant benefits over exotic medications or supplements: they're much cheaper and more accessible to most people.

In this study, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University asked participants to adhere to an eight-week plan that included lots of fresh vegetables, seeds, and liver. +8 View gallery

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The women were asked to follow the above diet and lifestyle plan for eight weeks. Their blood was tested for biomarkers of aging at the beginning and end of the study

They also instructed the women to exercise five times a week, get seven hours of sleep each night, and do two 10-minute breathing exercises daily.

It's no secret that a vegetable diet is good for you. The same goes for sleep, exercise, and relaxation.

But, the results of this study helped explain why and even suggested that sticking to a simple routine of sleep, diet, and exercise can decrease your biological age.

Measuring DNA methylation showed that even though the participants stuck to the diet just 84 percent of the time and lifestyle 77 percent of the time, their biological ages went backward from the beginning of the study.

On average, their biological ages fell five years, from 56 to 52 years. One person's biological age dropped from 57 to 46 years.

It's unclear which factor is important here - whether it's the liver, the exercise, or everything together.

But it is clear that the standard advice for health still stands - and science backs that up. +8 View gallery

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The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. When it slows down, we slow down. But a compound called MIC seems to improve its function in the lab

5. Boost your mitochondria

Mitophagy-Inducing Coumarin (MIC) improved the ability of the cell's powerhouse, or mitochondria, to clear out trash and recycle it, according to a November study in the journal Nature Aging.

This is important because one thing that happens as we age is our cells lose their ability to clean up the dead cells and other waste in our bodies.

In the study, scientists from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging treated roundworms and lab-grown mouse cells with MIC.

It boosted mitochondrial function and improved cells' junk-clearing processes - leading to longer cell life.

Coumarins are found in cinnamon and tonka beans, among other natural sources. But, the researchers used larger concentrations than would normally be found in foods.

The study was not conducted on people, so further research is required before humans should attempt to take this substance.

But it did seem to act on a protein that people also possess, suggesting that the compound could one day help people. +8 View gallery

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This one is a bit of a freebie, but it's always good to be reminded of how important it is to stay hydrated

6. Drink plenty of water

Drinking plenty of water helps slow down aging and prevent chronic health conditions, according to a January study in eBioMedicine.

This one is a bit of a freebie, but it's always good to be reminded of how important it is to stay hydrated.

In a study of over 11,000 people over 30 years old, scientists at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute found that higher sodium levels were linked to higher odds of chronic diseases like heart failure and stroke compared to people in the mid-range.

The study participants with higher sodium levels were also more likely to die younger. Previous work showed that proper hydration can extend the lifespan by as much as 15 years.

They looked at sodium because it is a marker of hydration. The more water you drink, the more diluted the electrolytes like sodium in your body are.

The researchers behind the study did not specify exactly how much water people should drink, but the standard recommendation of eight glasses a day remains a solid foundation for lifelong health.

Some of these longevity breakthroughs may not yet be available to the public, but those like diet, water, and exercise can make a huge difference.

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