Dr. Steve Horvath, a professor of genetics and biostatistics at UCLA, has found a way to measure biological aging – a type of “clock” – based on the methylation pattern of an organism’s genome. Methylations are biochemical processes that modify the activity of a DNA segment without changing its sequence – a type of epigenetic change. This video primer explains the basics of epigenetic clocks, the topic of our interview with Dr. Steve Horvath, coming soon!

Get the show notes here:
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/epigenetic-clock/

Episode highlights:
• 00:00:09 — A person’s risk of disease is more dependent on their biological age than their chronological age.
• 00:00:09 — Epigenetics refers to processes that can affect gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. Methylation is a type of epigenetic change that occurs over a lifetime in a predictable way and can be used to measure biological age.
• 00:01:17 — The Horvath clock can accurately predict a person’s chronological age based on only the epigenetic information in their blood.
• 00:01:54 — The GrimAge clock can predict the risk and time of onset of cancer, heart disease, and death.
• 00:02:19 — Certain drugs can reverse a person’s epigenetic age, but the effects on biological age are unknown.
• 00:03:09 — The discovery of an anti-aging drug is on the horizon.