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Thanks for reading The Abstract. This month’s edition is
1,360 words, about a
5-minute read.
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If you’re like us, you’ve been marveling at the feats of human performance at the Paris Olympics. In the spirit of the Games, the August edition of
The Abstract covers why U.S. Olympians live longer, the exceptional mitochondria of endurance athletes, and how exercise can impact the brain for years. On the longevity science front, we’ve got two new studies you won’t want to miss—one about the relationship between sugar and biological aging, and another about a protein linked to inflammation that may lead to future longevity treatments.
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Why U.S. Olympians live longer than the general population
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Olympic athletes can certainly outperform regular folks—but they also outlive them, according to a 2021 study published in the
British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study, led by researchers at the Institute for Research in Medicine and Epidemiology of Sports in Paris, included 8,124 U.S. Olympians (2,301 women and 5,823 men) who had competed in the summer or winter Games at least once between 1912 and 2012. Researchers compared their longevity to data on the U.S. general population. Overall, U.S. Olympians had a lower probability of death resulting in a total of 5.1 years of life saved compared with the general population. The extra years lived between Olympians and the general population was bigger in men, although female Olympians lived longer than male Olympians.
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The Expert’s Take:
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“It may seem obvious that former U.S. Olympians on average live longer than their non-Olympian counterparts, but some studies over the past decade raised the possibility that too much strenuous exercise might be dangerous, particularly for athletes’ hearts. Thus, the current study finding that former U.S. Olympians on average live 5 years longer compared to their non-Olympian counterparts is reassuring, particularly when the increased longevity was largely conferred by lower death rates for cardiovascular diseases (2.2 years saved) and cancer (1.5 years saved).
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The authors postulate that the anti-inflammatory effects of exercise may be one of the mechanisms underlying the increased longevity across multiple causes of deaths in former Olympians.
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Moreover, although the behaviors and lifestyle of the Olympians is unknown, particularly after their retirement, these findings reinforce the current simple, yet effective public health recommendations for physical activity: Move more, with more intensity, and
every move counts. For example, although it would be expected that more endurance type athletes would have a stronger cardiovascular disease protection effect compared to more strength and power athletes, the fact that the findings were so robust across a diverse number of athletes suggests that all forms of habitual exercise are likely to improve longevity.
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One obvious limitation of the study is its inherent cohort selection bias, in which elite athletes were studied and are likely not similar to the general population in terms of socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and genetic predisposition. However, the study found that the former U.S. Olympians were not protected from all causes of death compared to the general population, which shows the cohort selection effect may be reduced in this study. Lastly, while genetics is thought to play a role in becoming an elite athlete, in our
2016 study, we found that common genetic variants do not appear to be strong determinants of elite endurance athlete status.”
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Associate Professor of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, Director of the HERITAGE Family Study, and Elysium Scientific Advisory Board member
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THIS MONTH
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What We’re Reading
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These are third-party articles about science that we find interesting but have no relationship to Elysium or any of our products. Elysium’s products are not intended to screen, diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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Elite endurance athletes have high-performing mitochondria
Marathon runners and other elite endurance athletes have more
mitochondria, and more efficient mitochondria, than the average person—or even other top-tier athletes. Recent discoveries help explain why: Mitochondria in muscle cells form tubular networks that spread out like tendrils to distribute energy. They’re dynamic, and trainable. Exercise, especially endurance exercise, promotes mitochondrial biogenesis and changes their structure to take up more oxygen needed to burn fats and carbohydrates for fuel. Additional stressors like altitude and heat can also encourage beneficial mitochondrial changes. This developing field of research may push human performance further, and lead to treatments for older people with sedentary lifestyles, or those with disorders caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. (Nature)
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High intensity exercise boosts the brain—for years
Aging is one of the biggest risk factors for cognitive decline, so brain-related interventions are paramount. A new study by University of Queensland researchers offers exciting findings. Researchers followed a large cohort of healthy adults aged 65 to 85 during a six-month exercise program and for five years thereafter, studying them with biomarker and cognition testing, and high-resolution brain scans. They assessed the impact of three exercise intensities—high, medium, and low—and found that only high-intensity interval exercise led to cognitive improvement. Notably, this improvement was retained for up to five years after the intervention. The high-intensity interval exercise program consisted of: four sessions of running on a treadmill at 85-95% maximum heart rate, for four minutes each, separated by three minutes of recovery. Participants did the program three times a week for six months. (Queensland Brain Institute)
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Low sugar diet linked to younger biological age
Sugar makes life sweet—but it also may make it shorter, according to a new study from researchers at UC San Francisco. They analyzed food records from 342 women with a mean age of 39 years, scored their diets based on how nutritious they were, then investigated how the diets were associated with
biological aging using epigenetic data. The results showed that healthy diets, especially the Mediterranean diet, were significantly associated with lower biological age. Sugar intake, however, was associated with accelerated biological aging, even in the presence of an otherwise healthy diet. (JAMA Network Open)
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Deactivating inflammatory protein increases healthy lifespan in mice
Chronic inflammation is considered one of the hallmarks of aging—and targeting inflammation may be a way to increase healthspan, according to a new study. Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is a pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory protein that increases with age and is linked to a variety of age-related conditions. In experiments in mice, researchers at Imperial College London explored the impact of blocking IL-11 in two ways: by deleting genes related to the protein, and by administering a drug. The first treatment extended lifespan by 24.9%, and the second by 22.5% (male mice) and 25% (female). Both interventions improved biomarkers related to metabolism, frailty, and aging.
“These findings are very exciting,” said Professor Stuart Cook, co-corresponding author of the study.
“The treated mice had fewer cancers, and were free from the usual signs of ageing and frailty, but we also saw reduced muscle wasting and improvement in muscle strength. In other words, the old mice receiving anti-IL11 were healthier.” (Nature)
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TERM OF THE MONTH
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Mitochondria
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/ˌmɑɪ·t̬əˈkɑn·dri·ə/
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Serving as central hubs for metabolic reactions and generating ~95% of the cell’s energy by creating ATP (adenosine triphosphate), mitochondria power most of our cells’ biochemical reactions. ATP cannot be stored, so it has to be replenished every second. There are quadrillions of mitochondria in the human body, responsible for providing your tissue and organs with energy. The cells that demand the most energy—for example, in the heart or the brain—have the highest amounts of mitochondria.
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AGING 101
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Maintaining the integrity of your Mitochondria—the powerhouses of the cell
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We know that healthy mitochondria mean a healthy body—but how much of that is within our control? It turns out, a significant amount. (Read more)
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