A new tool can now estimate how fast a person is aging.
University of Otago scientists have found a way to use an MRI scan of the brain to quantify the rate of biological aging of middle-aged people to forecast risks of dementia, chronic disease, and death in older adulthood.
The technology was developed using data from the Dunedin Study, a decades long health project tracking more than 1,000 people born in the early 70’s.
Dunedin Study director Professor Moana Theodore joined Kerre Woodham to break down the findings of the study and how the tool works.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talks hed B.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
University of Otago. Scientists have developed a new tool that
can now estimate how fast a person is aging using
a single MRI scan of the brain. The MRI can
quantify the rate of biological aging of people in midlife
to forecast risks for dementia, chronic disease and death in
older adulthood. The technology was developed using data from the
(00:34):
Dunedin Study and amazing decades long health project tracking more
than a thousand New Zealanders born in the early seventies,
which is just an absolute treasure trove for researchers and scientists.
Dunedin's study director, Professor Wanna Theodore joins me, now, a
very good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Sure, thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It's so interesting because this is one of I think
one of the fears as you get older is what
happens to your brain. And quite often you do know
what's gone wrong until the person has died and the
brain has been studied. But in this case you're getting
advanced warning, are you a bit like blood tests?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, So, just to give you a little bit of
a background about the findings. So as you, as many
of the listeners may know that and then study the
more than fifty year old study at the University of Otago.
But since the study members have been in their mid twenties,
we've been looking at the aging process, so in particular
what makes some people age faster than others in terms
(01:38):
of their whole body aging. So that's across multiple organ
systems like hearing and dental, your cardiovascinar health, your cognition.
This new research has a step forward in that work.
And what we did is we when the Studdy members
were forty five years of age, we did MRI scams
and we trained those single brain scams to predict whole
(02:02):
body aging across those multiple organ systems and what the
dead as. It created an algorithm or a tool that
we called the need and pack me now dunedin pack
me means thenane pace of aging how quickly someone of
aging calculated by neuroimaging, And as you've mentioned, we did
a couple of other things after that. We wanted to
(02:23):
know how good this single brand scam was a predicting
how both in midlife the same age as our study
members and beyond, So we did two things. We looked
at our own study members to see who had faster
packed ME scores, so we're aging faster. And what we
found is that they were more likely to report having
poorer health, and they were all also more likely to
(02:44):
have poorer physical functioning, so we look at things like
they're walking in their balance and also cognitive functioning, so
things like poorer memory. But of course they're in midlife.
So what we did is then we worked with studies
of older people in the US and the UK. We
tested out this new brand scan tool with more than
fifty thousand brands scam.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's a huge sample.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, so a very big study the UK Buyer Bank
and also the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. And what we
found there was those older people who had faster patning
were more likely to develop or sorry just women were
more likely to develop chronic diseases such as heart attacks
(03:30):
and strokes. And they also had an increased likelihood as
you mentioned, of being diagnosed with dementia and even increase mortality.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So is it clear now that you can take this MRI,
You can have a look at the studies and you
can say a bit like the blood tests, you need
to make some lifestyle changes otherwise this is going to
happen to you further down the track.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, so a couple of things there. So, Yeah, so
there's a lot of work happening around these what we
call biomarkers of aging, so measures of aging vitually. That's
important because as individuals and listeners will know, we're constantly
seeing these products around anti aging products or about these interventions,
(04:16):
how do we actually know that they're working if we
don't have good measures of agent or the aging process.
And that's where our science comes in, and so that's
part of it. But your point there around you know,
for the wa what can what can people do or
what can as a society do with this sort of
information if we're able to predict begin to predict these
(04:39):
types of related age related diseases. Now there is as
the listeners may know, currently there aren't innicures for dementia
and Alzheimer's. There are various treatments and management strategies that
can help to sort of alleviate symptoms and improve quality
(05:00):
of life and potentially slow disease progression. But there is
actually hope and the twenty twenty four lanths at Report
on Dementia Prevention and Intervention and Care emphasize these modifiable
risk factors. There's fourteen of them that have got quite
good scientific evidence around them, and they sort of fall
(05:22):
into three kind of categories. One is things that people
can do themselves, so that's in terms of lifestyle factors,
reducing our alcohol consumption, physical activity, reducing smoking. So the
things that we know that are good for our overall bodies,
good for our brain too. Health issues those so things
like hearing loss, hypertension, reducing obesity, rates of depression. We
(05:49):
know that mental health is something really important that we
need to be thinking about as well in society diabetes
and traumatic brain injury as well. And then the third
things and environmental factors. It's actually improving education levels, reducing
air pollution and also social isolation. So so for listeners
(06:09):
at home, you know, it could be things like you know,
getting out and walking, reducing alcohol intake, but also things
like reaching out to others and getting involved in community groups,
and these things are being more and more identified as
ways to prevent these age related diseases.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Is there any point at knowing at twenty because I
just can't imagine even if I was told that I
had a higher risk of developing dementia or some of
these late life age related diseases, my risk was higher
than others, I'd still want the opportunity to go hotswah
(06:48):
and have a great twenty to thirty and do silly things.
I wouldn't be thinking about being seventy to eighty.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, it's kind of I think about the research. It's
really interesting and it takes us back to why the
research was so successful in the first place, and that's
our study members. So they have contributed in their families
more than fifty years worth of data.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
They're the treasure.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And I meet with them daily, their Generation Eggs, but
more and more they talk about in terms of their parents,
parents who helped support the study back you know, when
it started and over time, but they talk about their
parents and their health issues, and they know that the
information that they're providing now may be of benefit in
(07:35):
terms of the science and this really important area for
you know, maybe for their generation, our generation Generation eggs.
But also they're hoping that the information they can give
can help to improve the health and their being of
their children. So I think that's a really important message
from them about why the research is so important. Yeah,
(07:57):
and of course it is difficult to sometimes you know,
get out in exercise or eat health especially over winter,
and that's why those lifestyle factors also need to be
considered in terms of these other environmental factors that say,
community leaders by providing green spaces and blue spaces for
people to you know, communities to live in. In the government
(08:19):
as well, in terms of reducing poverty over the life
course really really come in. And I guess just to
make one more point on that. Why that's so important
is because we know that we have an aging population
in New Zealand worldwide, the global cost of Alzheimer's care
alone as predicted to grow from one trillion one point
(08:40):
three trillions to nine point one trillion in the next
twenty five years, and the rates of dementia in New
Zealand alone during its sign time periods are being predicted
to triple.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, So can you ward it off if you're more susceptible?
How much is in your DNA? Because I know of
families where the gene seems to be particularly strong on
there's not a lot they can do about that. As
there's Yes, it's.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Certain diseases or disorders have much more of a genetic
you know, the genetics are more important, more important, but
more deterministic and others. So in terms of Alzheimer's and demension,
you know, I've mentioned those modifiable life risk factors, so
there is some genetic component, but it's not, which is
(09:37):
why we go back to those lifestyle modifiable risk factors
being so important for these particular diseases. And the other
thing that the study found as well was that it
wasn't just you know, the dementia, is also things like
those chronic diseases such as hypertension and strokes, even frailty,
physical frailty and our ability to physical function. So it's
(10:00):
it's kind of that message of something that we can
do that can improve well, the whole body aging as well.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I thank you very much for your time. That is
Professor Warner Theodore Dunedin, study research director from the University
of Otago.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
For more from carry Wood and Mornings, listen live to
News Talks at b from nine am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talks hed B.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
University of Otago. Scientists have developed a new tool that
can now estimate how fast a person is aging using
a single MRI scan of the brain. The MRI can
quantify the rate of biological aging of people in midlife
to forecast risks for dementia, chronic disease and death in
older adulthood. The technology was developed using data from the
(00:34):
Dunedin Study and amazing decades long health project tracking more
than a thousand New Zealanders born in the early seventies,
which is just an absolute treasure trove for researchers and scientists.
Dunedin's study director, Professor Wanna Theodore joins me, now, a
very good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Sure, thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It's so interesting because this is one of I think
one of the fears as you get older is what
happens to your brain. And quite often you do know
what's gone wrong until the person has died and the
brain has been studied. But in this case you're getting
advanced warning, are you a bit like blood tests?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, So, just to give you a little bit of
a background about the findings. So as you, as many
of the listeners may know that and then study the
more than fifty year old study at the University of Otago.
But since the study members have been in their mid twenties,
we've been looking at the aging process, so in particular
what makes some people age faster than others in terms
(01:38):
of their whole body aging. So that's across multiple organ
systems like hearing and dental, your cardiovascinar health, your cognition.
This new research has a step forward in that work.
And what we did is we when the Studdy members
were forty five years of age, we did MRI scams
and we trained those single brain scams to predict whole
(02:02):
body aging across those multiple organ systems and what the
dead as. It created an algorithm or a tool that
we called the need and pack me now dunedin pack
me means thenane pace of aging how quickly someone of
aging calculated by neuroimaging, And as you've mentioned, we did
a couple of other things after that. We wanted to
(02:23):
know how good this single brand scam was a predicting
how both in midlife the same age as our study
members and beyond, So we did two things. We looked
at our own study members to see who had faster
packed ME scores, so we're aging faster. And what we
found is that they were more likely to report having
poorer health, and they were all also more likely to
(02:44):
have poorer physical functioning, so we look at things like
they're walking in their balance and also cognitive functioning, so
things like poorer memory. But of course they're in midlife.
So what we did is then we worked with studies
of older people in the US and the UK. We
tested out this new brand scan tool with more than
fifty thousand brands scam.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's a huge sample.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, so a very big study the UK Buyer Bank
and also the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. And what we
found there was those older people who had faster patning
were more likely to develop or sorry just women were
more likely to develop chronic diseases such as heart attacks
(03:30):
and strokes. And they also had an increased likelihood as
you mentioned, of being diagnosed with dementia and even increase mortality.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So is it clear now that you can take this MRI,
You can have a look at the studies and you
can say a bit like the blood tests, you need
to make some lifestyle changes otherwise this is going to
happen to you further down the track.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, so a couple of things there. So, Yeah, so
there's a lot of work happening around these what we
call biomarkers of aging, so measures of aging vitually. That's
important because as individuals and listeners will know, we're constantly
seeing these products around anti aging products or about these interventions,
(04:16):
how do we actually know that they're working if we
don't have good measures of agent or the aging process.
And that's where our science comes in, and so that's
part of it. But your point there around you know,
for the wa what can what can people do or
what can as a society do with this sort of
information if we're able to predict begin to predict these
(04:39):
types of related age related diseases. Now there is as
the listeners may know, currently there aren't innicures for dementia
and Alzheimer's. There are various treatments and management strategies that
can help to sort of alleviate symptoms and improve quality
(05:00):
of life and potentially slow disease progression. But there is
actually hope and the twenty twenty four lanths at Report
on Dementia Prevention and Intervention and Care emphasize these modifiable
risk factors. There's fourteen of them that have got quite
good scientific evidence around them, and they sort of fall
(05:22):
into three kind of categories. One is things that people
can do themselves, so that's in terms of lifestyle factors,
reducing our alcohol consumption, physical activity, reducing smoking. So the
things that we know that are good for our overall bodies,
good for our brain too. Health issues those so things
like hearing loss, hypertension, reducing obesity, rates of depression. We
(05:49):
know that mental health is something really important that we
need to be thinking about as well in society diabetes
and traumatic brain injury as well. And then the third
things and environmental factors. It's actually improving education levels, reducing
air pollution and also social isolation. So so for listeners
(06:09):
at home, you know, it could be things like you know,
getting out and walking, reducing alcohol intake, but also things
like reaching out to others and getting involved in community groups,
and these things are being more and more identified as
ways to prevent these age related diseases.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Is there any point at knowing at twenty because I
just can't imagine even if I was told that I
had a higher risk of developing dementia or some of
these late life age related diseases, my risk was higher
than others, I'd still want the opportunity to go hotswah
(06:48):
and have a great twenty to thirty and do silly things.
I wouldn't be thinking about being seventy to eighty.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, it's kind of I think about the research. It's
really interesting and it takes us back to why the
research was so successful in the first place, and that's
our study members. So they have contributed in their families
more than fifty years worth of data.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
They're the treasure.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And I meet with them daily, their Generation Eggs, but
more and more they talk about in terms of their parents,
parents who helped support the study back you know, when
it started and over time, but they talk about their
parents and their health issues, and they know that the
information that they're providing now may be of benefit in
(07:35):
terms of the science and this really important area for
you know, maybe for their generation, our generation Generation eggs.
But also they're hoping that the information they can give
can help to improve the health and their being of
their children. So I think that's a really important message
from them about why the research is so important. Yeah,
(07:57):
and of course it is difficult to sometimes you know,
get out in exercise or eat health especially over winter,
and that's why those lifestyle factors also need to be
considered in terms of these other environmental factors that say,
community leaders by providing green spaces and blue spaces for
people to you know, communities to live in. In the government
(08:19):
as well, in terms of reducing poverty over the life
course really really come in. And I guess just to
make one more point on that. Why that's so important
is because we know that we have an aging population
in New Zealand worldwide, the global cost of Alzheimer's care
alone as predicted to grow from one trillion one point
(08:40):
three trillions to nine point one trillion in the next
twenty five years, and the rates of dementia in New
Zealand alone during its sign time periods are being predicted
to triple.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, So can you ward it off if you're more susceptible?
How much is in your DNA? Because I know of
families where the gene seems to be particularly strong on
there's not a lot they can do about that. As
there's Yes, it's.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Certain diseases or disorders have much more of a genetic
you know, the genetics are more important, more important, but
more deterministic and others. So in terms of Alzheimer's and demension,
you know, I've mentioned those modifiable life risk factors, so
there is some genetic component, but it's not, which is
(09:37):
why we go back to those lifestyle modifiable risk factors
being so important for these particular diseases. And the other
thing that the study found as well was that it
wasn't just you know, the dementia, is also things like
those chronic diseases such as hypertension and strokes, even frailty,
physical frailty and our ability to physical function. So it's
(10:00):
it's kind of that message of something that we can
do that can improve well, the whole body aging as well.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I thank you very much for your time. That is
Professor Warner Theodore Dunedin, study research director from the University
of Otago.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
For more from carry Wood and Mornings, listen live to
News Talks at b from nine am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.