Consumers are spending hundreds of dollars on self-administered tests that claim to quantify their cellular health and biological age. While doctors are cautious about the value of such tests, it’s important to acknowledge the underlying desire to improve one’s health based on the results.
The emerging field of epigenetics defines biological age as the accumulation of damage that can be measured in the body. In a New York Times article, Jesse Poganik, a Harvard Medical School instructor who researches biological aging, explains that:
“(Biological) changes happen naturally as we get older; they can also be sped up by behaviors that affect health, like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. As a result, estimates of biological age have been shown to be associated with things like life expectancy and health.”
Despite the claims of many anti-aging interventions, “scientists don’t know how to reverse someone’s biological age — or whether that’s even possible.” That hasn’t stopped some creative people from trying to change their legal age based on their supposed biological age.
Experts caution that biological age tests don’t actually reveal much about one’s health and that their results can be unreliable. But they do measure factors that can be modified through medication and lifestyle changes.
Most reliable are conventional blood tests that measure cholesterol or hemoglobin A1C and can be used as a proxy for measuring a person’s biological age. In fact, Poganik encourages “expanding access and using more frequent testing to optimize health.”
Employers can reduce employee health risks and comorbidity complications with an affordable, member-focused Vitori health plan that encourages preventive and primary care and simplifies access to testing. And by removing financial barriers with low (and no) out-of-pocket member costs, employers can help combat the financial stress that contributes to biological aging.
