Why is it important to treat “aging”?

It is clear, that aging is the single greatest risk factor for developing several diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s — and those age-related diseases are today’s biggest killers.

Over the last decade, scientists have come up with numerous theories to explain why we age. According to experts, aging is generally seen as a progressive degenerative process that is a consequence of the tremendous amount of stress that we are exposed to each day. Our body tries to counteract these stresses by using repair and maintenance mechanisms. The healthspan of an individual is determined by the capacity of these repair and maintenance mechanisms to resolve the damage. Despite these mechanisms, various types of molecular and cellular damage accumulate in our body over time, which results in loss of physical function, elevated risk of chronic illness, and ultimately death.

Therefore, it is crucial to identify the processes responsible for inducing and repairing this damage. Targeting these so-called hallmarks of aging is essential to develop novel therapeutics that offer the body protection against several age-related diseases at the same time.