Healthy Longevity ScienceExplore the questions behind healthy longevity. Understand the evidence, its possibilities and its limits.
5 articles
Measuring agingBlood pressure, selected blood tests and fitness assessments can help guide useful health decisions. Biological-age clocks answer a different question: they estimate patterns linked to aging, without showing that treating the score improves health. No established test can precisely count your remaining healthy years. Before paying for an aging assessment, ask what a result would change about your care.
Measuring agingBiological-age tests can disagree because they measure different features of aging and compare you with different reference groups. A repeat test can also change without showing a lasting health change. In a 2026 analysis of 18 DNA-based aging measures, many were more consistent when the same sample was measured again than when fresh samples were collected. That distinction matters when interpreting your own result.
Measuring agingBlood-protein models can identify organ-related patterns linked to later disease. A 2025 study of 44,498 people found such links for disease and mortality. But an “older heart” score is a comparison with a research population, not a direct measure of heart damage. Its practical value depends on what the exact test adds to care—and whether using it improves health.
Measuring agingWhole-body MRI can discover an unsuspected cancer or another important abnormality. A review of ten studies involving 9,024 people without symptoms estimated roughly 16 confirmed cancers per 1,000 people screened. That is detection, not a count of lives saved. Scans can also trigger further tests for uncertain findings, and longer life from routine screening of well, average-risk adults has not been established.
Measuring agingBrainKey and NeuroQuant turn brain MRI scans into measurements that can inform assessment of memory and thinking problems. They measure different features and require interpretation alongside symptoms and cognitive tests. Healthy Longevity Clinic explains brain volume, percentiles and “brain age,” showing which findings can support a care decision and why a low percentile alone is not a dementia diagnosis.