Aging, Author Interviews, Genetic Research, UCLA / 17.08.2016
U.S. Hispanics Age More Slowly Than Caucasians and African-Americans
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Michael Gurven, Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Understanding the sources of ethnic and sex disparities in health and longevity is critical in order to insure the health and well-being of everyone. We often hear about disparities due to differences in health care access, education, income, and sometimes genetic differences. But what we've done here is to employ a new biomarker developed by Steve Horvath, called the "epigenetic clock", which measures the cumulative changes to the epigenome, i.e. alterations to DNA that affects gene activity and
expression but do not alter the DNA itself. This new measure is arguably
one of the best biomarkers of aging out there today - so it's indeed a
biological measure, but tells a different story than conventional genetic
differences. Instead epigenetic age is influenced by the lived experience,
physical and social environment, and genetic make-up of individuals.
(more…)