{"title":"Early-life sugar rationing, brain aging, and long-term neurodegenerative and psychiatric health outcomes: a population-based natural experiment study.","authors":"Xingji Lian, Amei Chen, Xiaoyan Zhu, Yuyu Huang, Chongzhe Yang, Yan Huang, Meilong Ran, Longyan Yin, Bing Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00452-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00452-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early-life nutrition is linked to adult brain health, yet evidence from quasi-experimental studies remains scarce. Leveraging the UK's historical sugar rationing as a natural experiment, we examined whether early-life sugar restriction reduces the risk of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders in later life. Among 60,394 UK Biobank participants (born 1951-1956), three groups were defined: in-utero-only, in utero plus 2 years, and non-rationed controls. Compared with non-rationed individuals, those exposed to sugar restriction during the first 1000 days after conception, showed significantly lower risks of all-cause dementia (by 27%), Alzheimer's disease (46%), depression (11%), and anxiety (20%). Dose-response analyses revealed stronger protective associations against depression and anxiety when postnatal sugar restriction extended beyond 6 months of age. Sex-stratified analyses showed consistent protective effects in women for Alzheimer's disease, depression, and anxiety. Neuroimaging revealed decelerated brain aging, reflected by a 0.39-year reduction in the brain age gap, alongside structural changes in reduced gray-white matter contrast and larger subcortical volumes, including the hippocampus and thalamus. Minimal associations were observed for in‑utero‑only exposure. These quasi-experimental findings suggest that early-life sugar restriction is associated with attenuated neurobiological aging and lower risks of dementia and psychiatric disorders, highlighting sugar intake as a potential modifiable factor of lifelong brain health.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148551888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-20DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00448-9
Zhirui Jiang, Sen Tong, James L Kirkland, Yu Sun
{"title":"Geroprotective insights into the natural metabolite spermidine in aging and age-related diseases.","authors":"Zhirui Jiang, Sen Tong, James L Kirkland, Yu Sun","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00448-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00448-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aging is associated with increased oxidative stress, which leads to pathological vulnerability. Spermidine is a ubiquitous natural polyamine found across all living organisms studied so far and present in multiple food sources. In humans, spermidine levels decline with aging, and a possible connection between reduced endogenous spermidine concentration and age-related organ degeneration has been proposed. We outline recent studies that address the potential contribution of spermidine to geroprotection, with a perspective of advancing spermidine towards clinical trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148537896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-20DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00446-x
Thalida Em Arpawong, Steve Cole, Harshanna Badhesha, Jung Ki Kim, Christopher R Beam, Eric T Klopack, Kimberly Siegmund, Bharat Thyagarajan, Eileen M Crimmins
{"title":"How epigenetic clocks tick: unpacking the black box by deciphering biological pathways and transcriptomic signatures of accelerated aging.","authors":"Thalida Em Arpawong, Steve Cole, Harshanna Badhesha, Jung Ki Kim, Christopher R Beam, Eric T Klopack, Kimberly Siegmund, Bharat Thyagarajan, Eileen M Crimmins","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00446-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-026-00446-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Epigenetic clocks derived from DNA methylation robustly predict biological aging, health, and mortality, yet differ substantially in their predictive profiles. The biological processes underlying these differences remain poorly understood. Using data from 3227 participants in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, with contemporaneous DNA methylation and RNA-sequencing, we examined the five most widely used epigenetic clocks (Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE). We conducted differential gene expression analyses to identify clock-specific gene expression levels and enriched biological pathways, to reveal substantial heterogeneity in the molecular processes captured by each clock. We further derived transcriptomic aging gene scores (TAGS) from differentially expressed genes associated with each age acceleration clock, and evaluated their associations with aging-related phenotypes. TAGS complemented DNAm clocks, and in several cases, showed stronger associations with age-related morbidities and mortality. Findings unveiled more unique than common biological processes underlying clocks, illuminating their internal mechanisms, and advancing their interpretability for aging research and clinical applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148537945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-20DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00455-w
Marius Viorel Ionica, Cristin Coman, Anthony William Oliver, Diana-Larisa Ancuta, Thorsten R Doeppner, Dirk M Hermann, Ionica Pirici, Aurel Popa-Wagner
{"title":"Intermittent chloroquine treatment extends lifespan and prevents mammary hyperplasia in female rats while reducing serum ldl and igfbp3 levels.","authors":"Marius Viorel Ionica, Cristin Coman, Anthony William Oliver, Diana-Larisa Ancuta, Thorsten R Doeppner, Dirk M Hermann, Ionica Pirici, Aurel Popa-Wagner","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00455-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00455-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a previous study, chloroquine (CLQ) administration extended lifespan in middle-aged male NMRI mice without systemic toxicity, challenging the view that blockage of autophagy is uniformly detrimental. Here, we evaluated a modified step-down intermittent CLQ regimen in aged female Sprague-Dawley rats designed to minimize long-term toxicity while maintaining biological activity. CLQ treatment significantly extended median lifespan and increased maximum lifespan by 19%. Treated rats exhibited a significant ~10-12% reduction in food consumption compared with controls, which may have partially contributed to the longevity effects observed in this study. CLQ administration was also associated with changes in endocrine and metabolic parameters, including alterations in the IGF axis, improved lipid profiles, preserved diurnal thermoregulation, stable reproductive hormone levels, and reduced mammary gland proliferative lesions without evidence of hepatic or renal toxicity within the parameters measured. These findings indicate that intermittent CLQ treatment is associated with extended lifespan and coordinated physiological adaptations in aged rats, while the underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be determined.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148538038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-17DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00453-y
Chen Zhou, Yunmeng Bai
{"title":"Systemic mapping of senescence characteristics across septic tissues.","authors":"Chen Zhou, Yunmeng Bai","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00453-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00453-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sepsis triggers profound organism-wide disturbances, yet the cellular logic underlying its systemic impact remains poorly defined. By integrating single-cell transcriptomes from six septic tissues, we uncovered a conserved cross-tissue program characterized by inflammation-driven senescence, disrupted intercellular communication, and coordinated transcriptional reprogramming. Senescence signatures were broadly elevated across cell types and strongly coupled to altered communication networks, suggesting that septic stress induces both cell-intrinsic and network-level remodeling. We identified several key transcription factors, with activation of Atf4, Cebpb and Cebpd, alongside repression of Foxo1, Gata4, and Yy1, which might rewire inflammatory and stress-adaptive programs toward senescence-like states. Endothelial and neutrophil populations were inferred to act as the principal amplifiers of this response through predicted Cxcl1-Cxcr2 and Cxcl2-Ackr1 circuits, potentially establishing self-reinforcing inflammatory-senescent loops. Finally, the neutrophil-derived signature serves as a robust molecular adjunct to traditional clinical metrics, significantly improving risk stratification and enhancing the prognostic accuracy for sepsis patients. Together, our findings position sepsis as a potent driver of accelerated immunological aging and provide conserved regulatory mechanisms that may represent therapeutic targets for mitigating both acute injury and long-term sequelae.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148475032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-16DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00443-0
Danish Anwer, Arina A, Agata Marchi, Eduard Kerkhoven, Annikka Polster
{"title":"Network-based discovery of regulatory drivers of cognitive decline in alzheimer's disease.","authors":"Danish Anwer, Arina A, Agata Marchi, Eduard Kerkhoven, Annikka Polster","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00443-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-026-00443-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder marked by progressive cognitive decline, yet its transcriptional regulatory architecture remains poorly understood. Here, we model sample-specific gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex transcriptomes of 87 individuals with AD and 67 non-cognitively impaired (NCI) controls and use a machine learning classifier to detect consistent disease-specific network features. This sample-specific network approach captures inter-individual variation in transcriptional regulation and revealed 22 key transcription factor-gene regulations that distinguish AD from NCI with 96% weighted accuracy. The key transcription factor-gene interactions were enriched in pathways central to AD pathology, including synaptic signalling, mitochondrial function, proteostasis, and neuroinflammation. Network analysis uncovered significant differences in regulatory connectivity between AD and controls, with ZNF225, ZNF849, and ZNF548 emerging as AD-specific regulatory hubs. Moreover, several key regulatory edges showed significant correlations with longitudinal cognitive decline, supporting their clinical relevance. Our findings highlight pervasive transcriptional dysregulation in AD, emphasizing sample-specific GRN modelling's value in uncovering regulatory mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13376175/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148474968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-08DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00440-3
Jinghui Zhong, Deyan Kong, Genpei Luo, Yiran Dong, Mingming Yu, Pan Zhang, Yingjie Xu, Xinfeng Liu, Wen Sun
{"title":"Reproductive behaviors, genetic susceptibility and accelerated aging risk.","authors":"Jinghui Zhong, Deyan Kong, Genpei Luo, Yiran Dong, Mingming Yu, Pan Zhang, Yingjie Xu, Xinfeng Liu, Wen Sun","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00440-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00440-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We examined the associations of reproductive behaviors and genetic susceptibility with aging indicators among female participants in the UK Biobank. Reproductive behaviors included the number of children ever born (NEB), age at first birth (AFB), age at last birth (ALB), and span of years of births (SYB). Aging indicators included frailty, PhenoAge acceleration, KDM-BA acceleration, and brain age difference (BrainAGE-diff). In multivariable analyses, reproductive behaviors showed nonlinear associations with aging indicators. Women with NEB of 2-3 had lower frailty risk, PhenoAge acceleration, KDM-BA acceleration, and BrainAGE-diff. Later AFB and later ALB were also associated with lower levels of several aging indicators, whereas longer SYB was associated with higher frailty risk and PhenoAge acceleration. Mendelian randomization suggested that genetically predicted higher NEB was associated with higher frailty risk and greater PhenoAge acceleration, while genetically predicted later AFB was associated with lower frailty risk and lower PhenoAge and KDM-BA acceleration. Joint analyses showed that high polygenic risk scores combined with NEB > 3, AFB < 25 years, or SYB ≥ 6 years were associated with higher aging burden, although multiplicative interactions were not statistically significant.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148414535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-04DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00441-2
Joseph R Scarpa, M Cary Reid, Olivier Elemento, Jan Krumsiek
{"title":"Biological aging increases risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality: an international, multi-cohort study.","authors":"Joseph R Scarpa, M Cary Reid, Olivier Elemento, Jan Krumsiek","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00441-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41514-026-00441-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biological age often diverges from chronological age, yet its independent impact on surgical outcomes remains poorly defined. We evaluated PhenoAge, a validated biological age metric, in an international multi-cohort study comprising over 430,000 surgical patients across the UK, USA, and South Korea. In the UK Biobank (N = 291,845), PhenoAge was a robust, independent predictor of 1-year mortality (OR 1.043; p < 0.001), major adverse cardiovascular events (OR 1.041; p < 0.001), and 30-day readmission (OR 1.02; p < 0.001), even after adjusting for chronological age, Fried Frailty Index, Charlson comorbidity score, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status, surgical complexity, and other common surgical risk factors. \"Fast Agers\" faced a 49% higher risk of mortality than \"Normal Agers\". The main findings were replicated across three independent international cohorts (MOVER OR 1.03; Weill Cornell OR 1.036; INSPIRE OR: 1.05; all p < 0.001), and validated prospectively at a large academic medical center, where PhenoAge predicted acute 3-day complications (OR 1.20; p = 0.015). As a scalable tool leveraging routine laboratory data, PhenoAge facilitates precision gerisurgery by identifying high-risk individuals for prehabilitation and biologically resilient candidates for complex procedures regardless of chronological age.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148388481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj agingPub Date : 2026-07-03DOI: 10.1038/s41514-026-00434-1
Manuela Campisi, Luana Cannella, Filippo Liviero, Federico Tamiazzo, Elisabetta Balestro, Paolo Spagnolo, Sofia Pavanello
{"title":"Telomere integrity, epigenetic aging, and genetic burden shape biological aging trajectories in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.","authors":"Manuela Campisi, Luana Cannella, Filippo Liviero, Federico Tamiazzo, Elisabetta Balestro, Paolo Spagnolo, Sofia Pavanello","doi":"10.1038/s41514-026-00434-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00434-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a paradigmatic aging-related lung disorder. In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated 101 treatment-naïve patients at diagnosis (T0) and a subgroup (n = 31) after one year of antifibrotic therapy (T1). Analyses included leukocyte telomere length (LTL), DNA methylation age [DNAmAge assessed by Horvath, Levine (PhenoAge), Skin & Blood, Hannum, BLUP, Elastic Net (EN), and a 5-CpG panel], age acceleration (AgeAcc), and genetic susceptibility. At T1, LTL was independently predicted by baseline LTL (p = 0.0004) and treatment duration (p = 0.0056). Longitudinally, ΔLTL increased in nintedanib- versus pirfenidone-treated patients (p = 0.0402) and with treatment duration (p = 0.0233). DNAmAge modestly increased with chronological aging across all clocks, while AgeAcc remained stable, decreasing at follow-up (p = 0.0435) and higher in males (p = 0.0204). Genetic analyses on 17 IPF-associated SNPs confirmed enrichment of established risk variants, including MUC5B and DPP9, and identified an association between higher genetic burden and lower forced vital capacity (p = 0.0136). Extending this approach, genome-wide imputation enabled polygenic risk score (PRS) analysis, revealing significant case-control differences and discrimination (AUC up to 0.79), supporting a measurable polygenic contribution to disease susceptibility. These findings highlight the added value of integrating telomeric, epigenetic, and genome-wide genetic burden-captured through PRS-for improved risk stratification in IPF.</p>","PeriodicalId":94160,"journal":{"name":"npj aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148383389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}