Global experts reveal science-backed ways to extend both lifespan and healthspan.
- Epigenetic clocks reveal true biological age and lifestyle impacts
- Autophagy and gut microbes play key roles in slowing aging
- Purpose, community, fibre-rich diets, and movement are core longevity pillars
Aging is a process in every being’s life. Like it or not, every one of us has to go through this transition. But how we can tackle and make this process smooth is in our hands. “Healthy Aging” is a term that has been an eye-opener for the current generation – in a way, to repent for their lost health! (1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Towards global healthy longevity: report from the 1st World Longevity Summit in Kyotango, Japan
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While people are living longer, their healthspan (number of years in good health) has declined significantly! This growing gap is a crucial need; the 1st World Longevity Summit in Kyotango, Japan, convened leading experts in biology, medicine, public health, sociology, culture, and community design as a way to provide an answer to this growing concern—increasing lifespan and also one’s healthspan!
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Did You Know?
People who live past 100 have fewer common bacteria but more rare, beneficial gut microbes. #longevity #healthyaging #medindia
Extending Healthy Life Expectancy Around the World
The summit’s guiding theme, “Extending Healthy Life Expectancy Around the World,” provided a platform for global collaboration. Through 28 multidisciplinary presentations, the summit emphasised that healthy longevity must integrate biology, lifestyle, culture, community participation, and public policy.
Why Japan for the summit? Japan, where nearly 30% of its population is 65 or older as of 2025, which makes it an ideal laboratory for understanding the aging process. Kyotango, with a centenarian rate nearly three times the national average, offers a rare glimpse into what healthy, purposeful longevity can look like.
The Science Behind Aging From The World’s Longevity Summit
From the summit, the researchers were able to spot certain factors associated with healthy aging.
How Does DNA Methylation Reveal Our Biological Age?
Steve Horvath of Altos Labs highlighted the revolutionary role of epigenetic clocks, which measure molecular aging by means of DNA methylation patterns. His findings emphasised:
- Offspring of centenarians have younger epigenetic ages, reflecting both lifestyle and genetic impacts.
- Longevity varies across organs: the cerebellum and retina age more slowly, while blood and bone age faster.
- Reprogramming cells to induce pluripotent stem cells results in full molecular rejuvenation.
Hovarth also introduced GrimAge, an advanced biomarker combining methylation data, proteins, and smoking history to predict mortality and disease risk. By using GrimAge, he found that:
- Obesity accelerates liver aging
- Exercise and dieting only contributed to a short-term reduction in the biological age
- Bariatric surgery does not significantly lower liver methylation age in the short term
- Caloric restriction, growth hormone deficiency, and hibernation slow aging
- High-fat diets and conditions like Down syndrome accelerate aging
- Aging remains tissue-specific, with organs like the liver and kidney aging faster under conditions such as hypertension
- Omega-3 supplementation showed a small but meaningful effect in maintaining biological age, an outcome that neither exercise nor vitamin D supplementation achieved.
Inside the Cell: Autophagy and Its Role in Longevity
Tamotsu Yoshimori of Osaka University explained autophagy in simple terms as the body’s natural “cleanup and recycling system”, which helps remove damaged parts inside our cells. Yoshimori highlighted ATG genes and LC3 to spot recycling activities inside the cell that helped in removing unwanted germs. A major focus was Rubicon, a protein that increases as we age and slows down this cleaning process.
His research shows that lowering Rubicon, especially in brain cells, can boost cell health, improve movement, and even extend lifespan. High Rubicon levels can speed up aging by spreading aging-related signals between cells.
He also shared early efforts to develop an autophagy-boosting fermented tea from Tokushima, create lifestyle programmes combining nutrition, supplements, exercise, and sleep, and launch the Japan Autophagy Consortium to raise public awareness and certify products that genuinely support healthy aging.
The Gut Microbiome: A New Frontier for Healthy Aging
Francis Chan from the Chinese University of Hong Kong explained that the tiny microbes living in our gut have a huge impact on how we age, affecting our immunity, memory, metabolism, and ability to fight infections. As we get older:
- The gut doesn’t work well
- inflammation goes up
- Microbes in our intestines begin to change
Surprisingly, people who live past 100 don’t just keep a “young” gut; instead, they have fewer common bacteria but a wider variety of small, helpful ones.
Chan explained the difference between healthy and unhealthy gut aging:
- In healthy aging, harmful mucus-eating bacteria (like Bacteroides) decrease, while more protective microbes such as Akkermansia and Bifidobacteria increase.
- In unhealthy aging, Bacteroides stay high and cause more damage to the gut lining.
He also pointed out three important substances made by gut microbes
- Butyrate,
- Exopolysaccharides, and
- Spermidine
which seem to support healthy aging by improving how our genes work, boosting energy production in cells, and helping the body’s natural cleanup process (autophagy).
Early-Life Microbiome and Lifelong Health
Probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), two current options, have conflicting outcomes. Due to the introduction of mucus-degrading microbes, FMT from young donors may occasionally even be detrimental to older adults.
Chan discussed findings from birth cohorts in Hong Kong and mainland China:
- Babies born during the COVID-19 era had delayed microbial maturation and higher allergy risk due to increased disinfectant use.
- Gestational diabetes changed infant microbiota and was linked to increased head circumference in male infants.
- Infant gut patterns strongly predicted autism development, a finding recognised by the U.S. FDA.
Redefining Aging with The “Platinum Society”
Tomoo Matsuda of the Mitsubishi Research Institute proposed the redefinition of the negative image of a “Silver Society” into a “Platinum Society”, where older adults are active members of communities, companies, and the government. Connectivity increased in community programmes such as Exadon.
Aging In Rural Societies Guided By Digital Innovation
Stefania Bandini broadened the conversation to include rural aging, highlighting the loss of traditional knowledge, population decline, and restricted access to services in large areas of Japan and Italy known as “inner areas”. She maintained that creating age-friendly spaces that balance innovation with human dignity and community needs requires integrating such technologies with regional cultural customs.
The Four Pillars of Healthy Longevity From World’s Longevity Summit
- Fostering bonds and sustaining communication
- Including more dietary fibres and plant-based proteins in the diet
- Regular fitness routine
- “Ikigai”: Living with a sense of purpose/gratitude
The summit’s declaration is a call to action rather than a conclusion. Respect for cultural diversity, interdisciplinary cooperation, and inclusive strategies are necessary to achieve healthy longevity!
Reference:
- Towards global healthy longevity: report from the 1st World Longevity Summit in Kyotango, Japan – (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-025-00279-0)
Source-Medindia