‘Old age’ doesn’t kill us… scientists reveal true causes of death
Scientists have determined that no one, not even a centenarian, dies of old age.
The conventional view is that ‘old age’ is a cause of death; As a person ages, their systems gradually decline and die.
But new research from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases suggests that old age is not actually a real cause of death; It is a time when certain diseases in the biological clock upset the system and a person dies.
Researchers suggest that the famous ‘Signs of Aging’, such as persistent dead cells, damaged DNA and worn-out chromosome caps, may not be directly lethal, but instead symptoms of the deeper aging process and increased vulnerability to fatal diseases such as heart failure.
An analysis of 2,410 human autopsy reports identified the circulatory system as the body’s primary point of failure. The biggest cause of death was cardiovascular diseases, especially heart attacks; it was often not diagnosed until autopsy and accounted for 39 percent of all cases.
Autopsies have revealed that even among centenarians aged 100 and over, who are generally considered healthy, they do not die of ‘old age’. About 70 percent died from cardiovascular causes, a quarter from respiratory failure, and smaller percentages from other specific organ failures.
This theory deals a major blow to the longevity industry by suggesting that increasingly popular ‘anti-aging’ drugs do not slow down aging; instead, they only delay a specific disease.
Autopsies showed that even seemingly healthy people over 100 years of age died from heart problems, 70 percent, 25 percent from lung failure, and the rest from other specific causes. No one died of ‘old age’ (stock image)
While 39 percent of the deaths were caused by heart attack, 38 percent of the deaths were caused by general heart or lung failure, nearly 18 percent were caused by stroke, and 10 percent were caused by blood clots in the lungs. A major artery rupture accounted for just under 10 percent of deaths.
The sum of these percentages exceeds 100 percent because many people experience a combination of these problems; for example, a heart attack led to heart failure.
For humans, their Achilles heel is not aging, but the failure of the circulatory system.
The markings on the death certificate are not the direct cause of death.
Instead, these are indicators of a body in a weakened state; in this case, they are more likely to succumb to a diagnosable fatal disease such as a heart attack, stroke, or organ failure.
The researchers said: ‘Aging research has long been shaped by assumptions that may not fully explain the complexity of the aging process. One of the most persistent assumptions is that extending lifespan equals slowing aging.
‘However… age-related mortality is generally determined by a narrow set of life-limiting pathologies rather than a generalized, systemic aging process.
‘The resulting increase in lifespan often reflects a delayed onset of certain diseases rather than a slowing of aging.’
Researchers argued that anti-aging science is based on flawed logic.
When they reviewed the key studies used to validate the ‘Hallmarks of Aging’, they found that 57 per cent to 100 per cent of the experiments had been tested only in already old animals, leaving a huge gap in the evidence as to whether targeting these signs could actually slow aging from the start.
They argued that scientists cannot tell whether something slows aging or simply treats the signs of aging. Most studies treat only older animals and combine disease treatment with aging modification.
In the few studies that included young animals, the treatment helped both young and old animals equally, 72 percent of the time. This means that this is just an overall health boost, not something that changes the rate of aging.
For example, one of the main distinguishing features is ‘zombie cells’, which refer to damaged cells that stop dividing but do not die, but instead remain in the body and secrete inflammatory chemicals, contributing to aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer and diabetes.
The claim is that these cells are the primary driver of aging. If true, removing them would not only make older bodies less sick, but would also fundamentally slow the rate at which multiple organs deteriorate over time.
To effectively study the ability of these interventions to slow the systemic deterioration that leads to disease-related deaths, the researchers argue that scientists should give experimental treatments to middle-aged animals so they can track declines as the animals age and not just when they are old and frail.
‘Biological clocks’ have emerged from this field, promising to predict people’s biological age and risk of death based on data patterns such as DNA changes that turn certain age-related genes on or off.
However, researchers say these clocks track biomarkers that change with aging, not those that trigger aging. Changing a person’s hour score may mean that they change the sign of aging, but this does not necessarily change the underlying process.
