Biological age
MetabolicYour biological age is an estimate of how fast your body is ageing.
Also known as: biological aging, metabolic age
We calculate it using the "Phenotypic Age" method by Levine et al. (2018, journal Aging). The researchers analysed data from 9,926 adults in a large US health survey (NHANES) who were followed for up to 23 years. From 42 lab values, they selected the nine that, together with age, best predict the risk of death: albumin, creatinine, glucose, CRP, lymphocytes (percentage), mean cell volume (MCV), red cell distribution width (RDW), alkaline phosphatase and white blood cells. From these, the formula estimates your statistical risk of death over the next ten years and gives the age at which an average person has the same risk. This was confirmed in a second group of 6,209 adults: each additional year of biological age was linked to a roughly 9% higher risk of death, regardless of actual age. The same study also looked at DNA. In 456 people from an Italian study (InCHIANTI), the researchers compared this biological age with chemical marks on the DNA in the blood (DNA methylation). This produced an epigenetic test ("DNAm PhenoAge") that estimates biological age from 513 sites on the DNA, which is where the study gets its title. According to the authors, however, the version based on blood values was better at predicting the risk of disease and death. We use this blood-value version and do not perform a DNA test. In young and very healthy people, values such as CRP, albumin, creatinine and glucose are often close together, so biological age is less precise at telling people apart. An acute infection can temporarily raise the result because CRP and white blood cells go up.
Why this matters
If your biological age is lower than your actual age, it suggests your body is aging relatively well. If it's higher, it may indicate faster aging. Keep in mind this is just an approximation based on a selection of blood marker, it's one piece of information about your health, not a complete picture.
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