From Geroscience Discoveries to Public Health Practice: Shifting the Paradigm towards Healthy Ageing

Abstract

Abstract The global population is ageing rapidly, and the paradigm towards healthy ageing is shifting from a challenge to an opportunity. Advances in geroscience have shown promise in delaying/preventing age-related diseases. However, public health research targeting healthy ageing needs to consider these advances and develop interventions that target fundamental ageing processes. This presentation highlights the need for a paradigm shift towards healthy ageing and the incorporation of geroscience discoveries into public health practice. Traditional behavioral and biological risk factors have been the mainstay of public health interventions targeting age-related diseases. However, epidemiological studies need to consider mechanistic links between lifestyle risk factors and ageing processes and include newly developed transcriptomic, epigenetic, proteomic, and metabolomic biomarkers of ageing to identify groups of people who are ageing faster. Public health interventions should be designed with cellular/molecular mechanisms of ageing kept in mind. In addition to established interventions addressing traditional risk factors, emerging dietary modifications such as intermittent fasting paradigms, and diets enriched in NAD+ precursors show promise. These emerging concepts can be incorporated into a complex anti-ageing paradigm that also includes physical activity and cognitive trainings to interrupt the bridge between ageing and physical/intellectual decline. Finally, interdisciplinary Healthy Ageing programs are needed to address the growing socio-demographic challenges associated with rapid population ageing. These programs bring together expertise in public health, geroscience, nutritional sciences, and preventive medication against non-communicable diseases. By shifting the paradigm towards healthy ageing and incorporating geroscience discoveries into public health practice, we can promote healthy ageing and reduce the burden of age-related diseases.