Practicing physical exercise offers several health benefits, such as reducing stress, improving metabolism, reducing the risk of various diseases, among others. Now, a new study by researchers at Amsterdam UMC suggests a new benefit of physical activity: reverse the aging process .
Researchers have discovered that a type of fat accumulates in various tissues of the body as we age, but this accumulation can be reversed through physical exercise. The findings were published on the 12th in the scientific journal Nature Aging.
“The idea that we could reverse aging is something that has long been considered science fiction, but these discoveries allow us to understand much more about the aging process,” says Riekelt Houtkooper, professor in the Metabolic Genetic Diseases laboratory at Amsterdam UMC in statement.
“By understanding more about the aging process, we can also look for new ways to intervene”, adds Georges Janssens, first author of the article and assistant professor at Amsterdam UMC.
The researchers explain that, in recent years, laboratory studies have demonstrated that it is possible to combat age-related diseases by intervening in fundamental processes that lead to aging. However, there are still many mechanisms related to aging to be discovered.
Therefore, the team investigated how the composition of lipids (fats) changes in rats over the years. They analyzed ten different tissues, including muscle, kidney, liver and heart.
The researchers observed that a type of lipid, called bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (or BMPs), was elevated in all tissues of older rodents, suggesting an accumulation of this fat during aging.
Therefore, they decided to investigate whether this also happens in humans. Although it was not possible to obtain so many different fabrics, BMP accumulation was also visible in muscle biopsies from elderly people .
Finally, the researchers performed more muscle biopsies on people before and after an intervention that consisted of an hour of exercise per day. According to the research, it was possible to notice a decreased BMP level in participants who were physically active .
“These results are an important new step in our understanding of the aging process, but they are certainly not the final answer. We plan to conduct follow-up studies to better understand how BMPs contribute to aging, what the consequences of BMP accumulation are on the aging process, and whether this can only be influenced by exercise or are there other ways to affect BMP levels.” concludes Houtkooper.
Source: CNN Brasil
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