Analysis of epigenetic clocks links yoga, sleep, education, reduced meat intake, coffee, and a SOCS2 gene variant to slower epigenetic aging.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional observational and genome-wide association study
PubMed 38103096 · doi:10.1007/s11357-023-01029-4
What was done
Analyzed DNA methylation and SNP data from nearly 1,000 human blood and buccal swab samples to evaluate DNA methylation preprocessing methods and clocks. The authors assessed associations between measures of epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) and various lifestyle and sociodemographic factors, and performed genome-wide association analyses to identify genetic variants linked to EAA.
What was found
The Skin&Blood clock with ssNoob normalization best predicted chronological age. Yoga was associated with a slower pace of aging (DunedinPACE), while more sleep and physical activity associated with lower mortality risk scores. University education, vegetable intake, and coffee were associated with slower epigenetic aging, whereas smoking, higher BMI, meat intake, and manual occupation correlated with faster aging (strongest for FitAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE). SOCS2 rs73218878 was associated with accelerated GrimAge (p = 2.87 × 10⁻⁸). Exact effect sizes and confidence intervals were not provided in the abstract.
Why it matters
It highlights lifestyle correlates of biological aging and identifies a novel genetic variant in the SOCS2 longevity pathway associated with accelerated GrimAge.
Limits
The observational cross-sectional design cannot establish causality. The abstract combines mixed tissue sources (blood and buccal swabs) and does not report numerical effect sizes, confidence intervals, or specific population demographics.
Cited by
- supports Smoking has a positive correlation of 0.4 to 0.45 with GrimAge epigenetic age acceleration.