Of course, you can go on hacking at the branches, and you can remove the poison fruit, not to mention those pesky leaves… But as long as you don’t uproot the invasive plant, it will grow again – and perhaps even stronger than before!
With the diseases of ageing, it is surprisingly similar.
You can go on treating heart disease, diabetes type 2, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and all manner of cancer. And you can invest a lot of effort and resources in this endeavour. But your patients are almost guaranteed to have a rough time. And as the years go by, one ailment will lead to another… and another.
Or you can dig deeper and earlier to confront the root cause: ageing!
Germany is planning to do just that.
Based on the recognition that the demographic shift will not be sparing this old (post-)industrial society, the Leopoldina National Academy of the Sciences has just published a revolutionary discussion paper, outlining concrete strategies to turn the tide of ageing.
In a nutshell, the roadmap the experts (including Andrea B. Maier, Geroscience Professor at the National University of Singapore) suggest is:
- more basic geroscience to understand ageing,
- faster translation into geroprotective measures,
- creation of national biobanks to fuel evidence-based trials,
- implementation of geromedicine to treat ageing before disease emerges.
In this scenario, epigenetic and other -omics clocks have a crucial role to play in the evidence base.
According to the authors, “[s]uch biomarkers are critical for proving the efficacy of geroprotectors and enriching the target population of patients most in need of an intervention.” (Schuhmacher & al., 2025, p. 11). In other words, these clocks will not only help disclose what geromedical interventions truly work but also who may most benefit from them.
But while systematically enrolling multi-omics clocks in clinical studies may not happen overnight, nothing stops you from monitoring your own healthspan right now – with epiAge.
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Source
Schumacher B., Antebi, A., Geiger, H., Krieg,T., Maier, A.B., Morrison, H., Niedernhofer, L.J., Niehrs, C., Scharffetter-Kochanek, K., Scheibye-Knudsen, M., Schmitt, C., Simm, A., Tüscher, O. (2025): “Health-Extending Medicine in an Aging Society – Prospectsfor Medical Research and Practice”. Discussion No. 39, Halle (Saale): German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Online: https://www.leopoldina.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publikationen/Diskussionen/2025_Diskussionspapier_Konzepte_f%C3%BCr_eine_neue_Medizin_en_Web.pdf
Illustration
Umkreisel App / pixabay & epiAge
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