How We Score
How we vet the research — transparency first
How healthy diets add years to your life—even if your genes say otherwise
Multiple healthy dietary patterns—Mediterranean, plant-based, DASH, and others—consistently added 1.5–3 years of life expectancy in a large study, and these benefits occurred regardless of whether people carried genetic variants linked …
How to Reverse Age-Related Immune System Decline
This is a well-informed roadmap of how to potentially reverse immune aging by restoring the thymus gland, but it's mostly a survey of promising ideas rather than proof of what …
A Protein That Blocks Exercise Benefits: Why Some People Don't Respond to Training
This preprint identifies an intriguing protein that may explain why some people gain fitness from exercise while others don't—a finding with potential longevity implications. However, it's early-stage research that needs …
New Drug Candidate 28i Shows Promise for Slowing Aging in Animal Models
This is promising preclinical drug discovery work showing a new compound can slow aging in worms and mice without the side effects of its parent drug. However, it remains early-stage …
How Aging Drives Alzheimer's Disease: A Molecular Roadmap
This paper presents a compelling framework showing how aging itself drives Alzheimer's disease through multiple interconnected pathways, suggesting that slowing aging might prevent AD. However, this is a synthesis of …
Reversing liver scarring with reprogramming mRNA in mice
This is promising early-stage lab research showing that specially designed mRNA can coax scarred liver cells back toward a youthful, healing state in mice—a novel proof-of-concept. However, it's far too …
Nine Core Mechanisms Explain Why We Age
This paper is a 'greatest hits' summary that organized everything we knew about aging into nine common patterns. It didn't discover new biology, but it gave researchers a shared roadmap—think …
A metabolomic clock predicts aging and disease risk across two populations
This preprint presents a promising new 'metabolomic aging clock' that tracks how fast people's bodies are aging at a molecular level and links it to mortality and disease—but because it …
How a Damaged Protein Spreads Aging Signals Through Your Body
A damaged form of HMGB1 protein appears to spread aging signals throughout the body, and blocking it reduced aging markers and improved healing in mice—but this finding is very new …
How Partial Reprogramming Reverses Aging Marks on Key Genes
This is credible, technically sophisticated work showing that partial reprogramming reverses age-related epigenetic changes, particularly on genes controlled by PRC2. However, it's an early mechanistic finding in mice that needs …
How Japanese Lifestyle Habits Shape Biological Aging Markers
This carefully conducted study suggests lifestyle habits like smoking, exercise, and sauna use associate with epigenetic aging markers in Japanese adults—but it's early-stage evidence that hasn't been peer-reviewed yet. Don't …
Blood Protein Signatures of Cell Aging Predict Health and Disease Risk
This promising early-stage research suggests blood tests measuring senescence in specific cell types could become better predictors of aging and disease than current methods—but the findings need peer review and …
Four blood proteins linked to longevity and healthy aging across generations
This preliminary study identifies four blood proteins that appear to predict healthy aging and longevity, but it's too early to act on these findings. Wait for peer review and independent …
How Hedgehog Signaling Might Combat Aging Across Multiple Organs
This review identifies Hedgehog signaling as a promising target for slowing aging in multiple organs based on preclinical evidence, but significant safety and specificity hurdles must be cleared before any …
Rewinding the Brain's Age: Gene Therapy Restores Memory in Aging Mice
This elegant study shows that reprogramming memory-storing neurons in aging mice's brains can restore their learning and memory to young-animal levels—a conceptual breakthrough for regenerative neuroscience. However, it's animal research …
How immune signaling molecules drive aging: CXC chemokines and cellular senescence explained
CXC chemokines are promising targets for anti-aging therapy based on their known role in cellular senescence and inflammation, but this review summarizes existing knowledge rather than presenting new evidence. Until …
How tissue scaffolds reprogram immune cells through tiny vesicles
This is promising early-stage research showing that tiny particles in biological scaffolds can reprogram immune cells at the genetic level—but it's in cells in a dish, not yet proven in …
Rethinking What Aging Trajectory Tests Actually Measure
This is thoughtful methodological criticism suggesting that how scientists currently interpret aging trajectory tests may miss important confounding factors like education and lifetime skills. It's worth considering when reading aging …