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Healthy ageing in 2016

Obesity in geroscience — is cellular senescence the culprit?

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 13, pages 76–78 (2017)Cite this article

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Obesity and ageing are major worldwide health challenges associated with lifestyle changes and an increase in age-related diseases, characterized by chronic inflammation dubbed metaflammation and inflammaging. However, the mechanistic link between these inflammatory processes is still unknown. New findings in 2016 shed light on these issues and indicate common targets for intervention.

The obesity epidemic and the increase in the number of elderly people are currently presenting major worldwide health challenges. These phenomena have been attributed to rapid changes in lifestyle in the past century, which have created favourable conditions for survival but also access to nutrient-rich food and a sedentary lifestyle. As obesity is a powerful risk factor for many age-related diseases, a clash between these two trends can be predicted, which questions the optimistic vision of an endless increase of life expectancy and health span. Understanding the determinants of healthy ageing is crucial to avoid health-care systems becoming overwhelmed with sick elderly individuals. This concern has prompted a reappraisal of geriatrics or gerontology, known collectively as 'geroscience' (Ref. 1). As ageing is the single major risk factor for age-related diseases, a central tenet of geroscience suggests that a small number of mechanisms (such as, cell senescence and inflammation2,3) are shared between these diseases and advancing age. This comprehensive approach offers a rationale to combat age-related diseases under a single umbrella of ageing, instead of individually, which is currently favoured by medical schools1.

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Figure 1: A nutrient-rich, high-fat diet induces accumulation in visceral adipose tissue of senescent immune cells (macrophages and T cells).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Union (EU)'s H2020 Project 'Propag-ageing' (grant agreement no. 634821), EU FP7 “HUMAN”, G.A. n. 602757; and EU JPND 'Adage' to C.F.

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  1. Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Institute of Neurological Sciences of Bologna, Bellaria Hospital, Via Altura 3, 40139, Bologna, Italy

    Claudio Franceschi

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Correspondence to Claudio Franceschi.

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Franceschi, C. Obesity in geroscience — is cellular senescence the culprit?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 13, 76–78 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2016.213

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