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Hello and welcome to the Wellness Mama Podcast. I’m Katie from wellness mama.com, and this will be a very short, solo episode where I dive into the topic of biological age. And in particular a recent test I did through Function Health, which I will link to in the show notes that showed my biological age at 21.7, which is substantially below my actual chronological age of 38.
And I did a deep dive into the factors that they look at in particular when calculating biological age and to the best that I can tell what I think the factors are in my life that led to such a low biological age. As well as what I think we all might have within our power to tweak. Not just to have a good score on a biological age test, but actually to help support the cellular aging process.
So there’s actually quite a lot that goes under this umbrella, and I’m gonna try to just touch on it briefly and give some high level oversight and a few specifics. Obviously the difference between biological age and chronological age is that biological age is calculated based on some cellular factors and metabolic factors, which I’ll dive into.
And chronological age is the age on your birth certificate. Obviously you can’t change the age on your birth certificate, but you can change how your cells and your body age. So in this episode, I’m gonna go into how biological age was calculated on the tests that I did. What I think helps get mine so low, and some factors I think we can all do that will help us lower our biological age actually, and naturally. So, like I said, what is biological age?
Simple concept: chronological age is based on how many birthdays we’ve had. Biological age is based on how fast or how slow our cells are aging. Now I wanna mention here before I go into this test, the gold standard, what’s considered the gold standard for biological age testing is something called DNA methylation. And this is not what this test was. So that test is considered more accurate, it’s considered kind of the gold standard for now. It’s also, from my understanding, pricier and harder to do, so I have not done that test.
At some point I might just to compare and see how this one stacks up. But I do feel like this test was pretty accurate because they look at a wide range of factors and I’ve gotten to compare with a lot of other people who have also taken this test and who have similar or different lifestyle factors than I do in some of these categories, which helped me sort of inform which things I think contributed most to this test.
So like I said, the gold standard is DNA methylation when it comes to biological age. Methylation is essentially the chemical tags that turn genes on or off, and that’s a much more higher level of detail than this test is. However, this test could be done as part of a panel, as a simple blood test inexpensively, and it’s one that I can affordably do every year with my full lab panel to keep an eye on things. It’s also important to mention biological age seemingly is influenced quite a bit by lifestyle, not just our genetics. So even when we’re talking about DNA methylation test, it’s not just our genes, but which ones are expressing, which ones are methylating. So this is an interesting insight into that.
So this test, the one I did, which was from Function Health, I’ll, again, I’ll link to it in the show notes, if you guys wanna try it as well, but it uses key biomarkers instead of direct methylation to estimate age. So it might not be quite as accurate as a DNA methylation test, but I feel like it is more accurate than, and looks at more data points than some other tests I’ve seen.
So in the function health panel, they looked at, from what I could tell, nine different biomarkers that are all included in their algorithm to determine biological age. And so I’m gonna go through each one very briefly as well as what it does, why it matters. And then things I think helped for me in optimizing that particular category.
So the first one is albumin, which is a measure of, it looks at liver health and nutrient transport. This is when they track often in the hospital when people are recovering ’cause it does give some insight there. I think things that helped me have a good range in the albumin category were eating enough clean protein and then taking things that support the liver, as well as doing things like hydration, sauna, castor oil packs, other things that support the liver as well.
They also, the second factor they look at was creatinine, which is an insight into kidney health and filtration. Some factors that I think are very important here are hydration, likely, especially with minerals in the right amount, which if you guys have been listening, you know is something I’ve been very focused on the last couple of years and this also potentially can indicate our toxin load.
And I’ve been trying for years to keep my toxin load low by not being exposed to a lot of toxins in my environment or my food. And also doing things like zeolite in the form of cyto detox or other gentle ways to work with my body to lower toxin load. They also look at glucose, which of course is an indicator of our blood sugar, and also can be an indicator of inflammation within the body, depending on when you’re taking that and what it’s looking at.
So obviously factors that can help here are cutting out refined sugar as much as possible, eating balanced meals, especially protein, movement after meals, so postprandial walking, and then lifting weights. As well as there are lot some supplements now that can also help with blood sugar balance.
I find that movement, sunlight, and eating enough protein really are the big keys for me in maintaining really good blood sugar. They also look at H-S-C-R-P, which is an inflammation marker. CRP stands for C-reactive protein, and in general you want inflammatory markers as low as possible. There’s a lot that comes into play here as well.
I think probably some factors that were instrumental for me in having low CRP were saunaing multiple times per week, certain anti-inflammatory supplements. I do occasionally fast, which can be really helpful for CRP as well as Omegas. And I’ve been experimenting with something called fatty 15, which is also supposed to help with inflammation as well.
Next they look at lymphocyte percentage, which is kind of an immune indicator. I think the things that help in this category for me personally and possibly across the board, are things like having a focus on gut health. And I use a lot of the Just Thrive products for my gut health. I can link to those in the show notes, as well as getting enough fiber and leafy greens.
And then I keep an eye on this at least yearly for myself after now being recovered from autoimmune disease. But I just keep an eye on those markers to make sure they stay in a solid range. Next they look at MCV, which can be an indicator of nutrient status, like B12, folate, and iron. I think…oh, and also back to the immune one with lymphocytes real quick.
I think also vitamin D from the sun is probably really helpful there as well. As well as zinc. I’ve seen positive benefits with zinc. Back to MCV. That one I think it’s the nutrient density of our food contributes a lot. And I also do labs to look at this one relatively often as well.
Also our dw, which is red blood cell variability. This can be a stress indicator as well. I think this also it’s focusing on nutrient density, focusing on stress. Big categories there. WBC, white blood cell: this indicates overall immune function. This is included in most metabolic and regular just lab panels.
And I think things that help here, sleep, stress detox, and then certain supplements can be mildly helpful. And then lastly, they look at ALP, which is an indicator of liver, bones, and bile health. And some things that I think probably helped me in this category were bitters. I’ve been using one from Just Thrive here as well.
Also things like NAC and glutathione can potentially be helpful to ALP as well. That said, all of these things, if we are kind of thriving within our environment, ideally are in good range without needing a lot of supplements. I think overall as a category, probably sunlight, hydration, and sleep are actually the biggest levers we can all pull when it comes to not just testing well on this test, but actually having healthy and good biological age.
So briefly, I think an overview of the factors that based on that algorithm and what they’re looking at helped me score so well on this test is having a clean anti-inflammatory diet. And I think a big part here that has, I’ve really dialed in in the last few years is getting a huge amount of protein and micronutrients in the morning as soon as possible after waking up, before I drink caffeine.
So in the morning, you guys have heard me talk about this. Wake up, hydrate with minerals while I’m in the natural morning light. And then nutrient dense breakfast before caffeine, before screens. I also think blood sugar balance is a big key here, and I’ve talked about levels before and recommended their products.
This gives you insight into your blood sugar and in real time what’s impacting it. Things I think that help with this are getting enough protein at every meal, which seems to lead to more stable blood sugar for me, as well as fiber. And then minimizing processed foods and sugars. I also think that movement after meals and sunlight for me both seem to really help in the blood sugar balance category as well.
You guys are probably tired of hearing me talk about sunlight, and I’m gonna mention it again, but I think something that contributed overall to this is consistent morning sunlight as well as consistent bright midday sunlight, which I will be going to get as soon as I wrap up this podcast.
This helps nutrient absorption. This helps ATP production. This helps electrical communication within the body. Essentially probably every category that they’re looking at, sunlight without burning is helpful. As well as daily walking, which for me is things like walking with a weighted vest or lifting weights, and then I do sauna or cold, mostly sauna a few times a week, which I think is really helpful for making sure the inflammation stays low.
I also do supplements that support methylation and especially methylated Bs, which likely was helpful on this particular test. As well as, this is kind of in alignment with my genetics, as well as I take a lot of factors of choline and then rotate some other supplements as well. From a detox perspective, they weren’t directly looking at detox pathways, but they were looking at some downstream effects of detox and if those things were functioning well.
So I would guess that daily sweating, whether it be from sauna or exercise, daily hydration, dry brushing, and sunlight likely all helped in that category as well. Now, there’s definitely not a way to directly correlate this to a lab test, but I suspect that learning how over the last few years to slow down and prioritize rest and recovery and pleasure and relationships has likely also helped with my stress levels, my hormones, and probably some of these labs as well.
And then I do some things to daily support my body on a cellular level. Everything from red light or at least morning sunlight, which is a natural source of red light, to midday sunlight to PEMF, as well as lots of minerals. And I’ve noticed a big difference in my energy level. And I would guess this also is reflected in my biological energy level as well when I do enough minerals.
So I rotate and do Beam minerals, some of Carolyn Dean’s minerals, including her multiple mineral and her magnesium, as well as Magnesium Breakthrough. And I add salt to my water often, so I’m getting a lot of minerals. I do sweat a lot and live in a hot climate. So overall, I would say biological age optimization protocol would kind of encompass a lot of those factors I just talked about.
As well as just thinking in categories of things that support methylation. So methylation supporting foods could be things like eggs, liver, beef, beets, greens, just micronutrient dense foods to begin with, as well as anti-inflammatory foods like olive oil, wild fish, and berries, which are definitely staples in my diet.
And then prebiotic and gut supporting foods, even just a little bit of something fermented at every meal. I believe Huberman did a whole podcast on that, but even just a bite at every meal can be really helpful. And then looking at blood sugar balance, like I mentioned. So protein before caffeine in the morning, protein at each meal.
And for me personally, I stop eating at sunset. From a targeted supplement perspective, of course there’s gonna be variation here. This does need to match up with your individual genetics. The top picks for my genes that I often rotate in methylated Bs, broad spectrum, magnesium plus minerals from all sources, omega 3s, NAC, glutathione, and then I’ve been experimenting with trimethylglycine, zinc, and a lot of collagen. From a lifestyle perspective, I think the biggest factors we can really hone in on here are getting enough sleep. Definitely this is one that every expert on this podcast mentions as being very important.
We all know sleep is important. Statistically we’re still not all getting great sleep, so making that a priority, making consistent sleep time and wake up time a priority. Making sure we’re really getting the deep rest portion of sleep, which is often easier if we go to bed a little bit earlier, and making sure our sleep environment is conducive to our best sleep.
There’s also, I think it can be really helpful from an anti-aging perspective to talk about fasting. Again, this is gonna be very personalized. It’s a little bit controversial, especially for women. I personally do various things of this throughout the year, so I’ll sometimes do time restricted eating and just stop eating earlier in the day, a couple days a week. Occasionally I’ll do a 24 hour or 36 hour fast, and then less commonly I’ll do a three or five day fast. You guys have likely also heard me talk about my yearly 7 to 10 day fast that I’d begin the year with. I also think that strength training and zone two cardio, which for me is just things like walking with a weighted vest, can be really helpful.
There’s a lot of data showing that within certain ranges, the more steps we get per day, especially in that zone two range can be really helpful, even in reducing all cause mortality. It makes sense that it would also then help with biological age. We also know that as Gabrielle Lyon says, so clearly, muscle is the organ of longevity.
Essentially, the more muscle we build naturally the better. So the more strength and lean muscle we can add, especially as we get older, the better for us. Also sauna and cold. I definitely prefer sauna. I think both can be beneficial though really, really cold temperatures can be a little bit harsh for women’s nervous systems in particular, depending on your stress state and your hormone state.
But I love sauna and try to do that a few times a week. And then I think also something that the blue zones teach us so clearly is the importance of connection, community, and joy. And how those relate to people living longer and likely also to biological youth. And those are harder to quantify, but I think very important to include.
Some other things that I feel like could be optional monthly longevity experiments if you wanted to try them would be, like I said, I’ve done 24 hour fast up to five day fast once a month in the past, especially when I was healing from Hashimoto’s. Right now while I’m experimenting with some more things, I’m gonna do a biological age, retest every six or 12 months to just see how these factors can be tweaked.
I also track HRV, glucose and insulin, and omega 3s even more often than that ’cause those are all pretty heavily weighted when it comes to data and correlation to aging. And then I often rotate supplements, adaptogens, and herbal protocols and kind of see what results I get from them. I also would love to briefly touch on the mind body connection and the epigenetic side of this.
Because we now know that our thoughts and our emotions do impact our biology. There’s a book called The Biology of Belief that really delves into this as well as now quite a few other books that have come out since then. But we know that gratitude and joy and positive emotional regulation are sort of gene expression boosters, and we understand a little bit more about epigenetics.
I think there’s much more to understand, but essentially, while genes might load the gun, our lifestyle pulls the trigger, including our emotions. And I think the mind body connection here can actually be a tremendous positive tool to our advantage when we understand this. And we use all of those factors to create a positive feedback loop to support our body, our emotions, and our mind as much as possible.
So, like I said, this is gonna be a short episode. Just like touching briefly on some kind of high level things that I think all come into play when we’re having the conversation of biological age. It’s my opinion that we actually can lower and reverse our biological age. Some big categories that I think are helpful to understand and focus on here are inflammation, blood sugar, nutrient density, and recovery, as well as of course sleep. And I would add sunlight because anytime I get to talk about sunlight, I think it’s been vastly miscategorized and it can be incredibly helpful across the board for all things health. And then I think we now have the ability to test some key biomarkers yearly or more so if we want, and to really actually see how things we try are affecting us on a cellular level.
If you are interested in trying any of these things, I would suggest starting small. Maybe picking one or two small habits to start first and then adding slowly from there, which will make it more sustainable. This will also let you test and track progress over time without adding too many variables at once.
And for me, many of these were added slowly through experimentation over the span of years, so I could kind of gauge how they were helping or not. I would love to hear what follow up questions you guys have related to this, or if you’ve also done this test, I would love for you to share your results as well and have a conversation, get more data related to biological age. You can always share and ping me on social, on Instagram. I’m at Wellness Mama. I would love to chat with you and see your results as well, or hear any questions that you have. I do read those messages and respond, or you can leave a comment on the show notes for this blog or for this [email protected].
But in closing, I would like to just remind everybody that age is really just a number, especially when you’re talking about biological age tests, it actually is just a number. But that if we take care of ourselves and our bodies, I think that is possible really to do a whole lot to improve not just our markers of aging and what shows up on a test, but actually the health of our body and our cells as well.
And I would love to hear from you, hear if you’ve tried any of these factors. Hear what your biological age is, if you’ve tested it or just to hear from you in general. So please always leave a comment or ask a question. And if you find my podcast helpful, I would be honored if you would leave an honest rating overview, which helps other people to find it and listen as well. For this episode, thank you so much for your time and your attention and for being here with me today, I am so grateful that you are. And I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the Wellness Mama Podcast.
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