- Maintaining physical and mental function is a cornerstone of healthy aging.
- Formerly, assessing intrinsic capacity has been a costly and time-consuming process.
- Now, researchers have developed a method for assessing intrinsic capacity and age-related decline from a single drop of blood or saliva.
- They suggest that their test could be used to track aging and guide targeted interventions to maintain mental and physical function as people age.
Intrinsic capacity (IC) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source as “all the physical and mental capacities that a person can draw on and includes their ability to walk, think, see, hear and remember.”
A person’s intrinsic capacity is influenced by a number of factors, including the presence of diseases, injuries and age-related changes.
Maintaining your intrinsic capacity is key to healthy aging. However, measuring intrinsic capacity has, until now, required sophisticated equipment and trained personnel.
A new study has found that measuring DNA methylation Trusted Source in blood samples to assess intrinsic capacity effectively predicts all-cause mortality.