HoldsUp

Morgan Levine

Altos Labs / Yale University School of Medicine

Morgan Levine, PhD, is an assistant professor of pathology at the Yale University School of Medicine and a Founding Principal Investigator at Altos Labs. Her research centers on the science of biological aging, epigenetics, and the development of aging metrics such as the PhenoAge clock. Her published work investigates epigenetic age acceleration, blood methylation tests across physiological systems, mitochondrial function, and the effects of lifestyle interventions on biological age.

37 claims checked on air: 1 contradicted 1 overstated 32 supported 3 unverified

What they said on air - contradicted

6 citing their own research

0:20:38contradictedmoderateMorgan Levine, PhD, on PhenoAge and the Epigenetics of Age A

Genetics is estimated to account for only about 10% to at most 20% of variation in epigenetic aging rates.

"So I think they estimate like 10, maybe at the uppermost 20 percent impact your genes have on your epigenetic aging rate." (said at 0:20:38)

Twin and pedigree-based quantitative genetic studies consistently show that the heritability of epigenetic aging and epigenetic age acceleration (the discrepancy between chronological age and DNA methylation age) is substantially higher than 10% to 20%. Pedigree analyses estimate the heritability of epigenetic age acceleration (Δage) at approximately 43% (e.g., Marioni et al., 2015), and twin studies across multiple clocks (such as Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge, and GrimAge) typically report heritability estimates ranging from roughly 35% to 60% in young and older adults, though heritability can decline in later decades of life. The speaker's claim that genetics accounts for only 10% to at most 20% of variation in epigenetic aging rates substantially underestimates the established genetic contribution.

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