engleski

The Future of Healthy Biological Aging

During the second part of the 20th century, we have witnessed a steady increase in the average life span. As a result of this aging trend throughout the world’s population, for the first time in history, older people outnumber children. The mentioned increase in life expectancy is considered to be a great achievement in terms of public health interventions and policies. However, increased life expectancy also represents numerous other challenges and a “growing burden of chronic illnesses, injuries and disabilities”, as well as other related concerns in terms of healthcare costs. Current projections indicate that the number of persons in developing countries aged 65 and older shall reach an estimated 690 million in 2030 (71%). At the same time, recent studies of biomarkers of age identified glycans as very promising biomarkers in aging research, which could play an important role in striving to reach a future in which healthy aging shall be approached, studied and achieved by way of personalized medicine. On the other hand, numerous research demonstrated that physical activity is an indispensable ‘ingredient’ for maintaining and improving one’s health, and in that way achieving the desired concept of healthy aging. WHO data identify insufficient physical inactivity as one of the leading risk factors for death worldwide, causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally. In a unique attempt to combine previous research on glycans and physical activity, the Faculty of Kinesiology University of Zagreb is conducting an innovative research that studies the effects of regular physical activity on biological age of sedentary middle-aged and older people (aged 35 to 70 years old) in different physical activity programmes over the course of 14 weeks. The so far very encouraging results establish a firm initial step towards breakthrough findings that could significantly contribute to healthy biological aging.

biological aging, physical activity, personalized medicine

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