Longevity & Aging

Autophagy Doesn't Simply Decline With Age, and Gentle Exercise May Help

Autophagy, the cell's recycling system that clears damaged proteins and waste, is widely believed to decline with age. A new study from Sanford Burnham Prebys, published in Aging Cell, questions that assumption. Researchers took blood and skin samples from healthy volunteers aged 23 to 72 and converted some skin cells into neurons, so they could study three cell types. They measured gene activity and also directly measured how fast autophagy was running. They found that recycling activity can rise, fall, or stay the same with age, depending on the cell type and the person's sex. In some cases, higher activity was linked to worse physical health. A small exercise component suggests that even gentle activity may shift older adults toward more youthful recycling patterns. The work cautions against assuming that simply boosting autophagy will promote healthy aging.