
DNA Methylation Clocks' Predictive Capacity for Aging Phenotypes and Healthspan - ve55
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7376380/
======
newobj
Ok, ELI5 anyone? I have a homozygous MTHFR 677 C>T mutation, e.g. my body
methylates at like 20-30% efficiency unless I supplement with methylated B-12,
e.g. methylcobalamin. Is this study good news for me or bad news for me?

~~~
ethanwillis
There are two things:

\- DNA Methylation \- DNA Acetylation

Methylation downregulates a gene's expression. Acetylation upregulates a
gene's expression. In any case, over your lifetime methylation profiles of
your genetics can vary, generally increasing.

Methylation of your cells isn't something that happens in every tissue at the
same rate. So you actually need to define a biological clock based on
methylation over time for all the different tissues. Then you can also build
clocks for 2 or more tissues, or the whole organism... maybe

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetic_clock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetic_clock)

------
ve55
Really looking forward to some of the startups in this area, specifically
companies that A) help you measure how healthy you are, and then B) help
direct you on how to optimize your own health. One would think this is a job
for our current medical system, but preventative care and true health and
longevity optimization get very little attention compared to treating problems
as they come up and settling for mediocrity.

There's a lot of interesting people that work on minimizing their biological
age (sometimes measuring it with simple blood metrics that correlate with
youth, and other times with more advanced and speculative ones like DNA
methylation tests), and it's definitely an important, neglecting, and upcoming
area. The downside is that to do a good job of maximizing your health and
lifespan like this, it takes a lot of work, time, money, and research. For
that reason I'm hoping some startups in this area do some amazing work and
really start to make the field of healthspan and lifespan optimization more
mainstream and accessible.

Some related links for those interested:
[https://peterattiamd.com/podcast/](https://peterattiamd.com/podcast/) (one of
my favorite podcasts focusing on optimizing health and longevity),
[https://levels.health](https://levels.health) (GCM/metabolic fitness tracking
startup),
[https://old.reddit.com/r/longevity/](https://old.reddit.com/r/longevity/)
(subreddit with many interesting links on longevity),
[https://ouraring.com/](https://ouraring.com/) (detailed sleep
tracking+optimization startup),
[https://www.zerofasting.com/](https://www.zerofasting.com/) (app to help
track+optimize+inform about fasting),
[https://michaellustgarten.com/](https://michaellustgarten.com/) (another
interesting Doctor that does a lot of work on optimizing blood markers and
diet), [https://hackernoon.com/im-32-and-spent-200k-on-biohacking-
be...](https://hackernoon.com/im-32-and-spent-200k-on-biohacking-became-
calmer-thinner-extroverted-healthier-happier-2a2e846ae113) (a more eclectic
but nonetheless interesting approach to many biomarker optimizations)

~~~
pstuart
I have a 23andMe test waiting to be used, but "privacy fears" have kept me
from using it. Found My Fitness (Dr. Rhonda Patrick) offers tests that
ostensibly help individuals shape their health strategies:
[https://www.foundmyfitness.com/genetics](https://www.foundmyfitness.com/genetics)

So, Ask HN: is my paranoia unfounded? Is my DNA already catalogued and the cat
is out of the bag? Fortunately I've committed no crimes of significance, so
I'm not I'm not worried about being identified like that.

~~~
ve55
I don't think it's unfounded, since once these companies have your DNA, they
can keep it forever, share it, or even lose it in a data breach, and
presumably over the next years/decades we will be able to make DNA information
about you significantly more valuable.

In general there doesn't _yet_ appear to be common significant gains that can
be made from the DNA tests available. Sometimes you will be lucky and find
you're at high risk of certain things, but the vast majority of the
information won't help you much. You still need to eat and exercise well
either way.

Until this changes, and we can actually do a decent job of offering personal
recommendations based off of one's DNA, you're likely better off getting a lot
of blood tests and working from there.

