neotes bioAge Test

Biological age, also known as epigenetic age, is a meaningful indicator of your health and life expectancy. In contrast to chronological age, which only reflects your age in years, biological age provides information about the condition and functionality of your body.

Ageing is not only a question of time, but also strongly depends on our lifestyle and habits. Let’s imagine that you are chronologically 45 years old, but your biological age is 40. This means that despite your actual age, you have a healthier and younger body condition. This is a good sign as it indicates that you are on the right path to staying healthy as you age. It shows that your lifestyle habits, including diet, exercise, sleep and stress management, are effective in keeping your body young and vital.

Using state-of-the-art technology and advanced machine learning models, together with one of the leading biotech start-ups for age measurement from Norway, we analyze your epigenetic age parameters based on the scientifically recognized and published Clock Foundation age clocks developed by Prof. Steve Horvath and his team at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) by examining the sites on your DNA where methylation has taken place.

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that affects how genes are expressed, and your genome-wide pattern changes predictably with age.

For the measurement, we use the currently most comprehensive micro array chip EPIC 2 from the leading biotechnology company Illumina. This chip reads 935,000 sites of your DNA to analyze your methylation patterns. With a computational approach that significantly exceeds the accuracy of previous biological clocks, we provide you with a comprehensive and precise analysis.

The GrimAge method was developed by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The well-known geneticist and bioinformatician Prof. Steve Horvath, who specializes in research into biological ageing and epigenetics, played a leading role. Epigenetics here refers to changes in DNA methylation, i.e. modifications to DNA that lead to a change in gene activity but are not attributable to changes in the DNA sequence.

Horvath and his team developed this method to enable a more accurate assessment of a person’s biological age compared to the watches that already existed at the time. GrimAge is used to learn more about the biological ageing process and to understand connections between epigenetic marks and various aspects of health.

All “clocks” based on DNA methylation follow the same pattern: a sufficient number of health parameters are known for a group of people, as well as the methylation of as many sites in the DNA as possible. Artificial intelligence is then used to search for patterns that correlate with illness or health.

The accuracy of the method is then determined in validation experiments on data sets that were not used to train the artificial intelligence. The fact that Grimage is one of the best watches is underlined by the fact that it has been taken up by many other researchers and tested on other cohorts of subjects, e.g. groups with different lifestyles in terms of physical activity or before and after treatment with so-called geroprotectors.

The aim of the GrimAge age clock is therefore to provide an estimate of how fit and healthy your body is compared to your actual age. For example, if the watch detects from the chemical markers that your body is ageing faster than it should, this could mean that you are in some way “biologically older” than your date of birth suggests.

On the contrary, if your body ages more slowly, you could be biologically younger. So the whole thing is a kind of scientific method to find out how well your body is ageing and it is often used in research to understand more about the ageing process and how you can potentially age healthier.

About four weeks after we receive your blood sample, you will receive your results in the form of a protected bioAge report. Before that, a lot happens behind the scenes.

– Week 1 to 2: DNA extraction

We extract your DNA and use a process called bisulfite conversion to distinguish methylated from unmethylated sites on your DNA (“your epigenome”).

– Week 2: Methylation profiling

Your DNA is then read at approximately 935,000 sites with the Illumina Micro Array Chip and your methylation pattern is determined. This is a highly specialized technology that is usually only used for research purposes.

– Week 3: Calculation of biological age and other parameters

Based on your methylation pattern, your biological age is then determined in validated, highly complex biostatistical calculation models (also known as ‘age clocks’) using a high-caliber, published method (“Grimage”). Furthermore, it is compared with the methylation patterns of comparable groups of people of your age and gender according to the respective parameters.

– Week 4+: Results announcement

After around four weeks of intensive analysis, you will receive your individual bioAge Report. Use the results of your bioAge Report to see where you stand or to monitor the effectiveness of your lifestyle changes. With the Premium Test you receive a more extensive number of parameters and a medical consultation.

What do I do after I have received my result?

– Week 5: Track your progress.

Use your bioAge Report and your personal recommendations, if your biological age is higher than your chronological age we recommend that you adjust your lifestyle.

– Week 24: Check your progress.

To measure your progress, we recommend that you take a bioAgeTest again after 6 months and compare your new bioAge report with your previous report. If you have reduced your biological age, you are on the right track to a long and healthy life.

Genetics and epigenetics are both key elements that determine how our bodies function. They play different roles and are influenced by different factors. Genetics, the information encoded in our DNA, is the blueprint of our body, so to speak, and determines many of our physical characteristics, such as eye color, hair color and, in some cases, susceptibility to certain diseases.

Genetics comprises the genes we inherit from our parents, which determine many aspects of our physical characteristics and some aspects of our health. Research suggests that around 20-30% of our health and longevity is due to our genetic makeup. Genetics plays a role in determining our biological age, as certain genetic variants can make us more susceptible to certain diseases and therefore increase our biological age.

For example, genetic predispositions to diseases such as heart disease or diabetes can cause our biological age to be higher than our chronological age. Epigenetics, on the other hand, refers to chemical modifications of DNA and its surrounding proteins that regulate the activity of genes without altering the DNA sequence itself. These epigenetic changes can be caused by a variety of environmental and lifestyle factors, including diet, exercise, stress and exposure to toxins.

It is estimated that around 70-80% of our health and longevity is due to epigenetic factors and our lifestyle.

However, epigenetics may play an even greater role in biological ageing. Epigenetic changes caused by environmental and lifestyle factors can influence the activity of our genes, affecting our health and biological age. For example, a poor diet or chronic stress can lead to epigenetic changes that affect our genes in ways that lead to premature aging.