New Study Reveals What Causes Ageing And A Simple Way To Slow It Down

Have you ever wondered what causes ageing in humans and how we could possibly reverse it? A new study sheds light on what humanity can do to stay youthful.

The new study was conducted by researchers from the University of Cologne in Germany and was published in the journal Nature, in which scientists not only found that gene transcription gets faster with age but that it also becomes less precise and prone to errors.

In addition, they found that certain processes can help us reverse this decline. "This is, so far, the only eureka moment in my life. I mean, this is a type of discovery that you don't make every other day," said Dr Andreas Beyer, the study's lead author.

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What is causing ageing?

In conversation with Euronews, Beyer called the findings "a major discovery." The project began 10 years ago with the intention of moving forward other similar studies that would "just look at differential gene expression" and what genes were getting turned and turned off as we aged.

This new study, however, assesses how the transcription process itself changes as we age. Scientists think that eventually, such questioning could help humans curate ways to reverse and stop ageing.

Also read: Groundbreaking Study Shows Ageing Can Be Reversed And Fast-Forwarded

During gene transcription, a cell makes an RNA copy of a piece of DNA, carrying genetic information to create new proteins in a cell. In turn, these proteins determine the health and function of the cells that decide the structure of all living organisms.

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Transcription is the process that makes each cell different as it regenerates over time. The "machine" that creates transcription copies is called Pol II (RNA polymerase II). The study found that this transcription gets faster as we age, causing Pol II to make mistakes, creating "bad" copies in the process that can cause numerous diseases.

Also read: Disney's New AI Can Change Actors' Age Through 'Re-Ageing' Process

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But how could these bad copies be stopped from creating? According to the research, a low-calorie diet can improve the performance of cell transcription in old age. Essentially, the scientists found that in mice, fruit flies, worms, and even human blood samples, a low-calorie diet slowed down the ageing process.

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