DNA Methylation Age Tests Compared

If you’re changing your diet or lifestyle, testing your biological age will show if the changes are beneficial. Plus these tests are starting to tell you what part of your body needs attention (inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, etc.). And therapies are under development to induce DNA methylation changes—possibly reversing aging.

Epigenetics is your body switching genes on and off depending on environmental, lifestyle, or other factors. DNA methylation is the process that enables epigenetics.

In DNA methylation, a methyl group attaches to a strand of DNA, slowing or shutting down the genes in this strand. This may occur due to aging or injury. Aging is accumulation of injuries, according to one theory (aging recapitulates injury). For example, wrinkles appear where solar UV has injured our skin. We think of wrinkles as a sign of aging but wrinkles are more a sign of accumulated injuries.

Poor diet and lifestyle choices cause injuries throughout your body. As these injuries accumulate we look and feel older. Improving our diets and lifestyles repairs many of these injuries and we look and feel younger. Many tests measure biological age. The most accurate are DNA methylation age tests.

DNA methylation age tests give you a single number for your biological age. Thousands of people now use DNA methylation age tests to measure the effectiveness of diet and lifestyle changes, e.g., trying a plant-based diet, or eliminating gluten, or starting yoga classes. A study by Kara Fitzgerald of twenty men aged 50 to 70, with another twenty controls, found that improved diet, sleep, exercise, and stress reduction (meditation) reduced biological age by more than three years, in just eight weeks. Dr. Fitzgerald details the diet in her book Younger You. Tl;dr: eat liver and beets.

DNA methylation tests examine dozens, hundreds, or thousands of sites in your DNA. These are cytosine bases bound to guanine bases through a phosphate group, or CpGs. Humans have about 28 million CpGs; no tests examine all of them. Testing more CpGs sounds like a good idea but research has found that CpGs group into co-varying modules so as long as CpGs from each module are included in the test there may little reason to test more sites.

The latest generation of DNA methylation testing includes loci-specific reports. TruDiagnostic has “a report on diabetes risk which is more predictive than fasting insulin and HbA1c levels.” In the next few months expect to see loci-specific reports about inflammation, heart disease, brain health, liver and kidney functions, etc.

TruDiagnostic is also “looking at what changes in methylation we can induce and how this relates to changing predictive risk.” In other words, if a loci-specific report indicates that you’re at risk for diabetes, your doctor may prescribe a diet/lifestyle change, a medication, and/or DNA methylation therapy, which will add or remove methyl groups from DNA strands.

Of course, if your diet or lifestyle is setting you up for diabetes then switching genes on or off may work only temporarily. Improving your diet and lifestyle will continue to be paramount.

My fantasy is that someday an anti-aging treatment will magically make me young again. If this ever happens, DNA methylation therapy is likely to be the method that this treatment will use.

TruDiagnostic

TruDiagnostic Complete Collection ($499) includes two DNA methylation tests, a telomere length test, and loci-specific reports.

A second product, TruAge PACE ($229), provides only the Dunedin PACE biological age test and telomere length measurement. No loci-specific reports are included. A general advice report on improving diet and lifestyle is included.

Both of these are blood tests.

The first DNA methylation test is called “Epigenetic Biological Age | Your whole-body summary.” This measures 870,000 CpGs. This will be the basis for the loci-specific reports. Currently a diabetes risk report is the first loc-specific report. If you get tested now you will receive additional loci-specific reports as they become available.

The second DNA methylation test is the DunedinPACE analysis. This provides a single number for biological age.

Telomeres are ends of cells, which shorten each time cells divide. When cells reach the end of their telomeres they no longer divide and then die. Telomere length controls lifespan. Telomere testing is a good idea but has some problems. I had my telomeres tested a few months ago, the results said that I’m zero to five years old (I’m 60).

A sample report isn’t available on their website but if you ask they’ll send you a link to download sample reports from Google Drive. These reports included diabetes risk, methylation data, mitotic clock, obesity risk, Dunedin PACE, immune functions, telomeres, and weight loss functions. They are working on a senescence burden predictor, a metabolomic value predictor, and a death predictor.

TruDiagnostic stores your blood samples for analysis with future methylation methods.

Their database has over 10,000 people, enabling the use “big data” methods to make new discoveries.

Their processing time is 2–3 weeks.

Their algorithms are licensed from publicly available, peer-reviewed research in scientific journals.

Elysium Index

Elysium Health makes anti-aging supplement formulas and the Elysium Index DNA methylation age test ($499). 100,000 CpGs are evaluated. This is a saliva test. A single number is returned for biological age. By the end of 2022 they will have new biomarkers of aging and systems-focused health and wellness reports (i.e., loci-specific reports).

A sample report isn’t available on their website but they sent me a sample report.

Processing time is six weeks.

MyDNAge

MyDNAge ($299) is a blood test that returns a single biological age. A sample report is available for download from their website. In addition to biological age, two genes related to aging are evaluated (APOE and MTHFR).

The company, Epimorphy, is not working on loci-specific reports but is instead working on additional indices similar to their Epi-Metabolic Index, which utilizes multiple CpG sites heavily correlated with cardiometabolic traits such as BMI, blood pressure, lipid levels and more. They aren’t working on intervention therapies but will when more research is done in this field.

Their clinical partners include

• United States: Bijan Pourat, MD, Inc.; Gladden Longevity
• Canada: Connect Health
• United Kingdom: PAAR London
• Spain: Penta Laboratory
• Japan: Sanbancho Gokigen
• Australia: Demeter Fertility; HealthScreen

Recommendations

If you only want to test your biological age, TruAge PACE and MyDNAge both look like good products at reasonable prices. For loci-specific reports it’s too early to tell whether TruDiagnostic Complete Collection or Elysium Index is better.

And my biological age? I’m going to order a DNA methylation age test in a month or two. I’m trying to follow Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s Younger You diet. I like beets and rosemary but eating liver every day is a challenge. :-)