A study has found that healthy lifestyle habits can slow down cellular aging and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The study demonstrated the relationship between lifestyle habits and the risk of cardiovascular disease concerning biological aging. It was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Experts say it’s important to detect and treat cardiovascular disease early as it can be prevented from worsening with proper management. The most important thing is to correct lifestyle modification, which includes quitting smoking, abstaining from alcohol, and exercising.
The researchers investigated the impact of healthy lifestyle habits on the risk of cardiovascular disease from the perspective of cellular aging, targeting 5,682 adults.
Lifestyle habits were scored and evaluated based on the Life Essential 8 criteria from the American Heart Association. The Life Essential 8 score is calculated based on diet, physical activity, sleep duration, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure.
The researchers also evaluated the degree of DNA methylation to assess the biological age and the degree of cellular aging of the research subjects directly linked to the risk of cardiovascular disease. DNA methylation is a process where changes occur in gene expression due to external factors such as lifestyle habits and stress.
According to the tracking and observation results over 11 to 14 years, for every 13-point increase in the Life’s Essential 8 score, the risk of developing new cardiovascular disease decreased by 35%, the risk of onset of cardiovascular disease decreased by 36%, and the risk of death from all causes decreased by 29%.
Additionally, people who aged biologically faster showed a 40% correlation between the Life Essential 8 score and cardiovascular health. This is twice the rate seen in the average population.
The research team explained that these results show that correcting lifestyle habits also affects cellular aging, thereby helping overall health. They concluded that healthy lifestyle habits reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease based on these results.
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