
Quantitative Translation of Dog-to-Human Aging [pdf] - helsinkiandrew
https://www.cell.com/cell-systems/pdf/S2405-4712(20)30203-9.pdf
======
bloopernova
From the Study's results:

Dogs (Labrador Retrievers were used in this study) have roughly equivalent
cellular ages to humans:

    
    
        | Human Years         | Dog Age Equivalent |
        |---------------------+--------------------|
        | 0 to 6 months       | Juvenile           |
        | 6 months to 2 years | Adolescent         |
        | 2 to 7 years        | Mature             |
        | 7 years and older   | Senior             |

------
sradman
Fantastic. DNA is not just a blueprint, it is also a state machine. I like the
use of the word "methylome" to represent the state machine. The four stages of
aging are intuitive; I'm pleasantly surprised that they map so nicely to the
quantifiable methylome.

I think the four stages roughly apply to all vertebrates. Divers familiar with
Humann and DeLoach's field guide _Reef Fish Identification_ quickly learn that
the Juvenile and Mature phases of many tropical fish (e.g. many angelfish) are
drastically different.

------
maxander
It would be interesting to see how well this translates between small, long-
lived dogs and the very large but significantly shorter-lived dogs-
particularly how the differences there compare to those between other mammals.

There’s obvious reason to suspect that the aging process in mice (which occurs
over ~3 years) is just a _different process_ than the aging process in humans
(which occurs over 80+ years), which would obviously be a big problem for all
the research into aging that relies on animal models. If dogs, one species
with a very diverse set of phenotypes, could serve as a meta-model for how
aging processes differ between short- and long-lived creatures, that would be
very useful.

------
softgrow
So many jokes will need to be rewritten now the linear 7 to 1 rule has been
debunked. However the dogs on the internet is much more credible with a one
year old dog equivalent to a thirty year old human on this new nonlinear
function.

------
neallindsay
Follow the link to learn the conversion factor, stay for the dog/Tom Hanks
comparison photos.

------
devonkim
This is a similar curve for cats even though domestic cats tend to live
substantially longer than dogs despite having a fairly similar early growth
curve. The world record longest living cat was 38 while the oldest dog was
just under 30. Cat life expectancy is 15-20 years, dogs 12-15 and for humans
around 80. But the longest living humans are in the 120-130 range, not 150 if
we linearly extrapolated from cats and dogs. Life expectancy and maximum age
favor cats over humans in this respect.

------
mrfusion
I wonder how much dogs would benefit from intermittent fasting considering
their ancestors only ate a few times a week. (Assuming what I know about
wolves from cartoons is correct.)

~~~
lambdaba
Likely even more if they're fed their natural (100% meat-based) diet, no
wonder pets get all the same diseases as we do when they're fed typical
industrial pet food + scraps.

------
dash2
I'm pretty sure my 5-year-old dog does not behave like a 55-year-old. (Comment
from Roly himself, blogging at
[https://facebook.com/gienusofroly](https://facebook.com/gienusofroly) :
UNBEBLEIVABLE!)

~~~
sradman
A 5-year-old Labrador Retriever probably does behave like a 55-year old human.
I think the important takeaway from this study is that every species/breed has
a life-pattern that can be represented with a logarithmic graph and four key
milestones. The fact that the first study used a specific dog breed is
incidental.

