How old are we really? What a test can tell us about our biological age

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 938 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Direct to consumer tests that claim to tell us our biological – as opposed to chronological – age are getting a lot of attention, but what can they really tell us about our health? Science editor Ian Sample talks to Dr Brian H Chen, an epidemiologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, who has conducted research into a variety of these tests called epigenetic clocks. He explains what exactly they are measuring and whether, once we have the results, there are any evidence-based strategies we can adopt to lower our biological age. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:10.0	Hey, it's Babberton de Ileshi here.
0:12.5	I've just got back from an epic road trip around the island of Ireland.
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0:38.6	tourism island. This message was paid for by Tourism Island.
0:47.1	Science Weekly is supported by Worldwide Cancer Research. Worldwide cancer research is the charity that starts new cancer cures, so that in the future
0:58.0	will reach a day when no life is cut short by cancer.
1:02.0	But we can't cure what we don't understand.
1:05.0	So worldwide cancer research encourages scientists to ask big questions, like, why does the heart not get cancer?
1:13.9	Can AI help us find new cancer treatments? Could skin cancer be treated with a vaccine?
1:20.1	Cure starters like you are searching for the answers to cancer. Search Curestarter to find out more.
1:44.5	No matter how hard we fight it with creams, bombs and serums, there's one certainty that none of us can escape.
1:46.5	Aging.
1:51.7	And though the steady passage of time doesn't discriminate,
1:58.6	there are some lucky people who just seem to age slower, or frankly, hardly at all.
2:02.2	It's something we'd all like to achieve,
2:06.2	not just aging better on the outside, but on the inside too.
2:11.9	Which is why measuring our biological age has become a bit of a thing.
	...

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