Social adversity may accelerate biological aging, a study finds
Social and economic adversity, especially in early life, may accelerate the biological aging process, but such an effect is reversible. The biological age of individuals living in poor socioeconomic circumstances is, on average, one year higher than that of people raised in better social environments. This is what emerges from the study conducted by an international team of researchers of Lifepath, a project funded by the European Commission to investigate the biological pathways underlying social differences in healthy ageing. [Read more]
 
The biological effect of low education is not as direct as that of smoking
Many social scientists believe that a variety of social environmental factors have an effect on the epigenome, which is the set of chemical changes to the DNA and its related proteins. However, so far there has been little evidence to date in humans about that. According to a group of researchers, social environmental conditions have a smaller epigenetic effect compared to factors with a more direct biological impact – such as smoking, alcohol consumption or body mass index. [Read more]
 
Paolo Vineis interviewed on The Guardian (podcast)
What does poverty do to our health and wellbeing? And what physiological processes might be at work? In an interview with Nicola Davis on The Guardian Science Weekly podcast, Professor Paolo Vineis, coordinator of the Lifepath project, talked about a recent study looking at the link between socioeconomic position and life expectancy in over a million men and women. [Read more]
 
Lifepath in Alba attended an international conference on ageing opportunities
Social and economic conditions affect the length and quality of our life, and particularly of our aging. This is what Professor Paolo Vineis told the audience of the conference Invecchiamento di successo 2017: ageing opportunities, organised in Alba (Italy) by Fondazione Ferrero. [Read more]
 
Lifepath participation to the Palgrave Handbook of Biology and Society
The Palgrave Handbook of Biology and Society is a book that aims to bring together contributions from biological and social sciences, in order to present the novel perspectives that these two approaches offer upon some of the most significant sociological, anthropological, philosophical and biological questions of our era. [Read more]