Heart-healthy habits linked to reduced biological age

Summary: A new study finds that heart-healthy behaviors can reduce biological aging. Researchers have found that managing heart disease risk factors is associated with younger biological age and lower risk of heart disease, stroke and death.

The study highlights the role of DNA methylation in the link between cardiovascular health and biological aging.

Highlights:

• Heart-healthy behaviors reduce biological aging and the risk of heart disease.
• DNA methylation is a key mechanism linking cardiovascular health to aging.
• One study shows a 20-40% reduction in cardiovascular risk linked to heart-healthy habits.

Source: American Heart Association

The benefit of better heart health may be associated with the positive impact of healthy lifestyle factors on biological aging (the age of the body and its cells), according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access publication. , peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

“Our study results tell us that regardless of your actual age, better heart-healthy behaviors and better management of heart disease risk factors were associated with younger biological age and lower risk of the disease. heart disease and stroke, death from heart disease and stroke, and death from any cause,” said Jiantao Ma, Ph.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor in the division in nutritional epidemiology and data science at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.

This study analyzed whether a chemical modification process known as DNA methylation, which regulates gene expression, could be a mechanism by which cardiovascular disease health factors affect cellular aging and risk of death.

DNA methylation levels are the most promising biomarker for estimating biological age. To some extent, biological age is determined by your genetic makeup and can also be influenced by lifestyle factors and stress.

Researchers examined health data from 5,682 adults (mean age 56; 56% of participants were women) enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study, a large, ongoing multigenerational research project aimed at identifying risk factors for cardiac disease.

Using interviews, physical examinations, and laboratory tests, all participants were assessed using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 tool. The tool rates cardiovascular health between 0 and 100 (100 being best) using a set of four behavioral measures (dietary intake, physical activity, hours of sleep per night, and smoking) and four clinical measures ( body mass index, cholesterol, blood). sugar and blood pressure).

Each participant was also assessed using four tools that estimate biological age based on DNA methylation and a fifth tool that assesses a person’s genetic tendency toward accelerated biological aging. Participants were followed for 11 to 14 years for the development of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular death, or death from any cause.

The analysis revealed:

• For every 13-point increase in an individual’s Life’s Essential 8 score, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease for the first time was reduced by approximately 35%, deaths from cardiovascular disease were reduced by 36%, and deaths from cardiovascular disease were reduced by 36%. , all causes combined, by 29%. .
• In participants with a genetic risk profile making them more likely to have accelerated biological age, Life’s Essential 8 score had a greater impact on outcomes potentially via DNA methylation, i.e. say that DNA methylation represented a reduction of 39%, 39% and 78%. in the risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular death, and all-cause death, respectively.
• Overall, approximately 20% of the association between Life’s Essential 8 scores and cardiovascular outcomes is estimated to be due to the impact of cardiovascular health factors on DNA methylation; in contrast, for participants with higher genetic risk, the association was almost 40%.

“Although there are a few biological age calculators commercially based on DNA methylation, we don’t have a good recommendation on whether people need to know their epigenetic age,” Ma said. .

“Our message is that everyone should be aware of the eight health factors linked to heart disease and stroke: eating healthy foods; be more active; stop smoking; sleep healthily; manage weight; and maintain healthy levels of cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.

Randi Foraker, Ph.D., MA, FAHA, co-author of Life’s Essential 8: Updating and Enhancing the American Heart Association’s Construct of Cardiovascular Health, said the findings are consistent with previous research.

“We know that modifiable risk factors and DNA methylation are independently associated with cardiovascular disease.

“This study adds that DNA methylation may mediate between risk factors and cardiovascular disease,” said Foraker, professor of medicine in the Institute for Computing, Data Science and Biostatistics and director of the Center for Population Health Informatics. , both at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

“The study highlights the impact of cardiovascular health on biological aging and has important implications for healthy aging and the prevention of cardiovascular disease and potentially other health conditions. »

Study details, context and design:

• The study analyzed health data from a subgroup of participants who attended Framingham Heart Study exams in the descendant group from 2005 to 2008 and in the third generation group from 2008 to 2011.
• Participants were followed for an average of 14 years for the children of the original participants and 11 years for the grandchildren.
• Health outcomes for analysis included development of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, or heart failure), death from cardiovascular disease, or death from any cause.
• Results were adjusted for gender, age and alcohol consumption. Results for all-cause death were adjusted for the presence of cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) or heart disease at the time of enrollment. study. Participants already diagnosed with heart disease at the time of study enrollment were excluded from the analysis of new cardiovascular diseases.
• The four tools for measuring epigenetic age scores based on DNA methylation were based on established algorithms for the DunedinPACE score, PhenoAge, DNAmTL and GrimAge. A fifth tool, GrimAge PGS, assessed the genetic tendency toward accelerated biological aging.

Because the study is an analysis of previously collected health data, it cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and DNA methylation.

Additionally, DNA methylation measurements were from a single time point, limiting the validity of the mediation effect.

The study results are also limited because participants were predominantly of European ancestry, so the interactions between Life’s Essential 8 and genetic aging found in this study may not be generalizable to people of other races or ethnicities.

“Currently, we are expanding our research to include people from other racial and ethnic groups to further study the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and DNA methylation,” Ma said.

Heart disease and stroke claimed more lives in the United States in 2021 than all forms of cancer and chronic diseases, according to the American Heart Association’s 2024 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics. lower respiratory tract combined, and also accounted for an estimated 19.91 million deaths worldwide.

Co-authors, disclosures, and funding sources are listed in the manuscript.

About this research news on aging and cardiovascular health

Author: Karen Astle
Source: American Heart Association
Contact: Karen Astle – American Heart Association
Picture: Image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original research: Free access.
“Epigenetic age mediates the association of the 8 essential elements of life with cardiovascular disease and mortality” by Jiantao Ma et al. Journal of the American Heart Association

Abstract

Epigenetic age mediates the association of the 8 essential elements of life with cardiovascular disease and mortality

Background

Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) is an enhanced measure of cardiovascular health. The interrelationships between LE8, biomarkers of aging, and disease risks are unclear.

Methods and results

The LE8 score was calculated for 5,682 participants in the Framingham Heart Study. We implemented 4 epigenetic age biomarkers based on DNA methylation, with older epigenetic age hypothesized to represent more rapid biological aging, and examined whether these biomarkers mediate the associations between LE8 score and cardiovascular disease (CVD), cardiovascular disease-specific and all-cause mortality. mortality.

We found that a one standard deviation increase in LE8 score was associated with an increase of 35% (95% CI, 27–41; P.= 1.8E‐15) lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, 36% (95% CI, 24–47; P.= 7E‐7) a lower risk of cardiovascular disease‐specific mortality and a risk of 29% (95% CI, 22–35; P.=7E‐15) lower risk of all‐cause mortality.

These associations were partly mediated by epigenetic biomarkers of age, particularly GrimAge and DunedinPACE scores. Potential mediation effects of epigenetic age biomarkers tended to be more profound in participants with higher genetic risk for older epigenetic age, compared to those with lower genetic risk.

For example, among participants with higher GrimAge polygenic scores (above the median), the mean proportion of mediation was 39%, 39%, and 78% for the association of LE8 score with incident cardiovascular disease, mortality specific to cardiovascular diseases and all others. respectively cause mortality. No significant mediation was observed in participants with lower GrimAge polygenic score.

Conclusions

Epigenetic age scores based on DNA methylation mediate associations between LE8…