Biological age versus chronological age: Reline the age in the digital age

What if you could slow down – or even vice versa – the way your body grows older? A new wave of startups in the health tech, powered by artificial intelligence and advanced medical examination, makes it possible to not only measure how many years you have lived, but also how well your body actually gets older.

The concept of “biological age” is not new, but it gets more and more grip from medical experts, who say it can transform how we approach preventive care, health optimization and aging.

“Those transition from candle parts to job assessment is considerably. It enables us to give less to the number and more about how someone’s body actually does,” Dr. Bill Kapp, CEO of Longevity Research Company Fountain Life, said Decrypt. “Two people can be 60 on paper, but have considerably different risks for heart conditions, memory loss or restoring illness.”

Kapp explained that the focus changes at biological age how care providers practice preventive medicine.

“It’s not about waiting for problems, but seeing early wear and the action before things fall apart. That is a smarter way to get older,” he said. “It offers individuals a better chance of staying strong and independently longer – regardless of what the calendar says.”

The concept of biological age is attributed to the study of the British doctor Alex Comfort from 1969, “test battery to measure the aging speed in humans.” The research of Comfort was groundbreaking because it introduced the idea of ​​biological age as an alternative to chronological age to assess how a person gets older.

Age is often seen as just a number – but not all numbers tell the same story. Chronological era is just how many years you lived; Biological age reflects how good – or bad – your body functions compared to that number.

A person can be 40 years old on paper, but if his body works as a 50-year-old, then this is their biological era. Because the body is closer to 50, the person can be confronted with increased risks for age -related diseases such as cardiovascular issues, cancer or cognitive decline. Conversely, a lower biological age may indicate better health and a longer potential lifespan.

Because the awareness of the lifespan is increasingly becoming a focus in health care, a growing number of health equipment companies are developing aids to keep up and reverse biological aging. According to a report of December 2024 by Market Research Firm Precedence Research, the anti-aging industry is expected to reach $ 140 billion in 2034.

A growing market of apps

It is not surprising that the number of tools that claims to follow or reverse the biological age is also growing. But which works – and how do you choose? According to Dr. David Cheishvili, Chief Innovation Officer at EpimedTech Global, is biological aging not something that can be measured with only one song, and calls a complex process that takes place over different systems in the body.

“There are many biomarkers that people talk about, gene expression, metabolism but in my opinion are on DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks currently the most reliable when it comes to treasures biological age,” Cheishvili said Decrypt. “If a platform contains and peer-reviewed, used validated methods, that is usually a good sign that it is based on solid science.”

Let’s break that down. On DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks estimate the biological age of a person by measuring chemical changes in their DNA that accumulate over time.

As a co-developer of the Epigenetic Age test, which analyzes DNA methylation data of saliva, be Cheishvili on red flags that consumers should pay attention to when choosing a Longevity app.

“The first to keep in mind is that these companies sell something – and that’s fine, but it means you have to be careful,” he said. “If you see big claims about reversing aging with a supplement and there are no scientific data or peer-reviewed research behind it, that is a red flag. Real change takes time, consistency and evidence-no magical pills.”

Another company that wants to support the biological era is Rejuve AI. Rejuve AI was launched in 2023 and is an AI-driven research network for lifespan, partly founded by Jasmine Smith and Dr. Ben Goertzel, the founder of decentralized AI developer Singularitynet.

Earlier this month, Rejuve Ai ‘Longevity’, a mobile app that follows various statistics, including weight, sleep and diet. These statistics are combined to give users their biological age.

“Organic era is something we have to develop biomarkers for when we talk about how to improve or reversed,” said Smith Decrypt.

The recently launched Longevity app from Rejuve.AI is part of a broader decentralized science movement that uses portable integrations, health data and artificial intelligence to estimate and help reduce the biological ages of users.

Smith noted that interest in health and lifespan is growing every year, driven by high-profile moments such as the release of Bryan Johnson’s Netflix documentary ‘Don’t Die’, and the popularity of concepts such as blue zones.

“Initiatives such as Make America are again healthy again, conversations about food quality and long -term health problems in the spotlight,” she said. “At the same time, personalized and preventive care is griped on – even in regular medicine, where more clinics embrace holistic approaches. It is an exciting time to be part of this shift.”

A number of other platforms also help to follow the biological age and offer insight into aging. Inner tracker’s Innerage 2.0 uses blood biomarkers to estimate the age and to give personalized health tips. The biological age calculator of Agelessrx analyzes lifestyle and laboratory data to suggest anti-aging strategies. The index of Elysium Health measures DNA methylation to offer precise epigenetic age estimates.

AI meets a long life science

Experts emphasized that artificial intelligence is one of the most promising tools that is currently transforming the lifespan of the lifespan.

“I am actually quite enthusiastic about how AI is used in this space. It gives us new ways to analyze complex data and spot patterns that we would not otherwise catch,” said Cheishvili. “For researchers who get older, AI feels a bit on what calculators were for mathematicians – it doesn’t make you think, but it makes work so much faster and more powerful.”

Building on that potential, Dr. said Helen Messier, Chief Medical and Science Officer at Fountain Life, which AI is already making meaningful progress in health and lifespan. Nevertheless, she noted that the technology is confronted with careful consideration as it evolves.

“From an ethical point of view, there is a growing need to ensure that this data is not abused by insurers or employers,” Messier. “As this space evolves, we must treat the biological age like all other sensitive medical data – with privacy, permission and fairness in mind.”