Leading Researcher Says Inflammation Plays Major Role In Longevity

A respected gerontology researcher synthesizes current understanding of the major factors affecting human longevity. Look at nutrition and inflammation, he says.

Dr. Caleb Finch explains for US News that those are the principal drivers of the human aging process. Inflammation, for instance, is implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

Inflammation is caused by infection and the environment, he says, and by "environment" he doesn't just mean environmental pollutants. Food -- or too much food -- can be a cause of inflammation:

Obesity, for example, is a pro-inflammatory state. Fat tissues secrete inflammatory molecules called cytokines, which contribute to chronic inflammation and conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

Surprisingly, the role of infection extends far back in an individual's lifespan. In earlier work, Finch showed that a reduction in childhood exposure to infectious diseases reduced inflammation that, according to a USC press release, would have later "(lead) to heart attacks, strokes and cancers the classic killers of old age." His team found that "... chronic infections from childhood onward accelerated vascular and other diseases."

Finch is a professor of gerontology and biological sciences at USC; his university web page notes that he "has received most of the major awards in biomedical gerontology." He's promoting his new book "The Biology of Human Longevity," which surveys the state of the art in aging research. In it, he writes "The evidence shows that inflammatory and oxidant damage accumulated by long-lived molecules and cells promote the major dysfunctions of aging that, in turn, drive the acceleration of mortality during aging. Later life dysfunctions of the vasculature, brain, and cell growth may be traced to ... inflammatory changes from early in life."

Finch tells US News that the prescription for most people should not a surprise:

Exercise and maintaining a healthy weight -— both of which have anti-inflammatory effects —- are remarkably preventive for all the diseases of aging. This cuts across all the systems. What's good for your heart is good for your brain and is good for preventing cancer. The separate diseases of adult life are much more related to each other and to overall health than we previously recognized.

To support his point, recent research shows that exercise benefits the brain; at the same time, it lowers the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the US.