A study published in Cell Genomics explores how inflammaging — the chronic, low-grade inflammation that builds with age — connects to epigenetic aging as measured by four established biological clocks. Researchers found that systemic inflammation common in older adults, often unrelated to any specific disease, correlates with accelerated epigenetic aging markers. This matters because epigenetic clocks are among the most reliable tools we have for measuring biological age. The findings help unify two major aging mechanisms — inflammaging and epigenetic drift — suggesting they may reinforce each other. Understanding this link could open new avenues for interventions targeting inflammation as a way to slow biological aging more broadly.
