specialty focus are there , they ’ re influencing younger cells and better functional cells in their environment negatively .
What conditions and diseases are linked to cellular senescence ? All age-related diseases have been proven to be associated with senescent cells . And an example is in the heart . If the heart is not functioning well anymore , this either relates to heart failure or heart effect , et cetera . In the lung , if there is lung failure like COPD , chronic obstructive lung disease , we see these senescent cells . We see them in the eye . So , if vision is declining during chronological age , it ’ s poorer at older age compared to at younger ages . And we see that we find these senescent cells in the eye of individuals , but we also find them in the brain . And the number of senescent cells is associated with how well the brain is functioning in older adults .
Is there anything we can do to prevent these cells from building up in our body ? That ’ s a great question . So what can we do to prevent the ageing process ? So , one of the factors is preventing the zombie cells and the senescent cells . So first of all , senescent cells have been associated with chronological age . I think it ’ s quite unlikely that we prevent becoming older . But it is possible to adapt to a lifestyle that eases the process , because we know that people who do not smoke , who are physically active and are a normal weight , have less senescent cells . We also know that lifestyle changes towards not smoking , less alcohol drinking , and maintaining a normal weight is also associated with less risk of death and agerelated diseases .
There are also lots of studies looking at whether there is something in nature already which we could eat to reduce the number of senescent cells , and one example is in strawberries . In strawberries , there is fisetin and it ’ s got a low concentration , so you have to eat lots of strawberries , roughly more than 500 grams a day for months . So I ’ m not sure if you ’ re going to do that , but then you would have enough in the bloodstream to actually potentially act as a senolytic , as these other drugs are doing .
Have there been any recent breakthroughs ? The field really is exploding . If you look at the conferences , what ’ s being done and what we have learned from model organisms , for example , one recent discovery is what can we learn from bats . We can learn so much because the bat has a very strong immune system and can stand COVID . It ’ s not getting sick , but it ’ s also very long living . We can also learn from whales , for example . What we can learn from these big creatures in how they maintain their function and slow ageing . And next to that , we are now reaching the field where we do lots of trials not only in these kinds of animals , and then mice and worms , but we also reach the stage where we do it in humans . So my group at the National University of Singapore is just focusing on doing randomised control trials in
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We have the recipes to change the ageing trajectory .
humans to test if either certain diet or physical activity , then very specific ones or supplements or repurpose drugs or new drugs can reduce the biological age of individuals .
What do you hope this field will achieve in the future in regards to healthy ageing ? I don ’ t think that it ’ s hope , because it ’ s reality already . We have the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society , which I founded , and we are bringing healthcare professionals together who are like-minded . We are interfering with the ageing process already at much earlier ages , for example at the age of 20 to 30 , or even before birth of a certain individual by increasing the health of becoming mothers and fathers . So we really have a different approach , and we already now know how to diagnose how old somebody really is , and not just looking at the chronological age because it would be a little bit unethical just to diagnose something based on that . We can also intervene as we now have recipes to change the ageing trajectory with lifestyle interventions , and very specific ones next to that . We have lots of evidence already that supplements can work . In the next coming three to five years , we will have much more information which drugs already used in clinical care could interfere with the ageing process of individuals who are ageing at this moment in time . ■
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