https://medicalxpress.com/healthy-aging-news/ en-us Latest health news and information about Healthy Aging As we age, our ability to maintain healthy blood and a strong immune system gradually declines, largely because hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), the cells responsible for producing all blood cell types, begin to lose their effectiveness. Normally, HSCs can both self-renew and generate a balanced mix of blood cells, but over time they produce fewer new cells, favor certain cells such as myeloid cells over lymphoid cells, and struggle to support a robust immune response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-cell-death-hidden-drivers-stem.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:20:04 EDT news695551201 UCLA researchers have identified a rogue population of immune cells that quietly accumulates in aging tissues and in the livers of people with fatty liver disease. Clearing these cells, they found, dramatically reduced inflammation and reversed liver damage in mice—even while the animals remained on an unhealthy diet. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hidden-army-zombie-immune-cells.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:00:14 EDT news695464057 A national study led by investigators from Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University found that transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement, or TTVR, delivered strong early results in real-world practice. Patients treated with TTVR experienced near elimination of tricuspid regurgitation, low rates of stroke, and meaningful improvements in symptoms and quality of life within 30 days. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-invasive-heart-valve-strong-early.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:20:01 EDT news695383621 Restricting calories has long been recognized as a powerful way to live longer, with periods of intermittent fasting proving more effective than a steady diet. However, the mechanism behind this phenomenon has been unclear. Research led by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists and published in Nature Communications suggests it's not the fast itself that extends life, but how the body metabolically pivots during refeeding after fasting. Although the findings were made in Caenorhabditis elegans, a roundworm often used as a lab model, they could eventually lead to new ways to boost health in humans. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-fasting-longer-lifespan.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:20:01 EDT news695375356 A single episode of delirium—a state of confusion and agitation—in hospitalized older adults is a significant risk factor for other serious health complications including fractures, stroke and sepsis, a University of Queensland study has found. Delirium is often triggered by infection, surgery, pain, dehydration or medication, which affects up to 1 in 4 older adults during a hospital stay. However, many of its long-term health impacts have not been fully understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hospital-delirium-red-flag-severe.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:00:03 EDT news695374861 Loneliness affects the memory of older adults but does not speed up mental decline over time, suggests data from a major European study tracking more than 10,000 people over seven years. Participants who reported high levels of loneliness performed worse on memory tests at the start of the research period. However, the ability of lonely people to recall information declined at a similar rate over the time course monitored as that of participants who did not feel alone. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-loneliness-memory-early-doesnt-brain.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:00:01 EDT news695281525 Scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, along with collaborators at UC San Francisco, have discovered that APOE4, the most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, causes bone quality deficits specifically in female mice, through a mechanism that is invisible to standard imaging and can emerge as early as midlife. The findings, published in Advanced Science, reveal an unexpected biological link between Alzheimer's risk and skeletal health, and identify a new molecular pathway that could one day inform earlier diagnosis of cognitive decline or guide treatment for bone quality loss in women who carry the APOE4 gene. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-apoe4-alzheimer-gene-silently-undermines.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:20:02 EDT news695318042 In a study involving over 600,000 people, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have investigated how changes in weight between the ages of 17 and 60 are linked to the risk of dying from various diseases. The results show a clear pattern: weight gain early in adulthood has the greatest impact. The work is published in the journal eClinicalMedicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-weight-gain-20s-health-impact.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:20:08 EDT news695300761 A new study has found that combining the current medications for Alzheimer's disease with small molecules derived from micronutrients found in grapes, berries, peanuts and turmeric is a safer and more effective way to treat the disease. The work is published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-drug-combination-alzheimer-treatments.html Sat, 11 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news694960332 Madison professors suggest longevity gains across all states and regions for people born between 1941 and 2000, in contrast to previous estimates suggesting a century of stagnation or even declines in parts of the South. Published in the journal BMJ Open, the study by Héctor Pifarré i Arolas and Jason Fletcher of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, along with José Andrade of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, challenges recent estimates that portrayed progress on extending longevity in the United States as sharply divergent across states and regions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-bleak-picture-state-gaps-longevity.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news695047544 Statistics show clear differences in the population's immune system according to sex: men are more susceptible to infections and cancers, while women have stronger immune responses, which translate, for example, into better responses to vaccines. Even so, with a more reactive immune system, the probability of the body attacking itself also increases, causing 80% of autoimmune disease development to occur in women. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-women-immune-bigger-age-men.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:20:04 EDT news695038681 Artificial intelligence can write text messages encouraging physical activity that most older adults consider appropriate and good quality, but their feelings about AI—and whether they know AI wrote the message—impact their response, suggests a new study in the Journals of Gerontology. The research is an important first step in helping health programs use AI to support large-scale behavior change, said lead author Allyson Tabaczynski, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-pocket-sized-personal-trainer-ai.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:40:05 EDT news694965722 It is well known that students who prepare in advance perform better in exams. Now, it appears that the skin can do the same. Rather than scrambling to repair itself only after injury occurs, a Korean research team has demonstrated that preconditioning a subset of skin cells into a "ready state" enables the tissue to initiate rapid and effective healing immediately upon injury. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-skin-pre-priming-cells-regeneration.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:00:10 EDT news694946221 Eating a higher quality plant-based diet is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias compared to eating a lower quality plant-based diet, according to a study published in Neurology. While the study shows an association based on observations, it does not prove that a higher-quality plant-based diet causes a lower risk of dementia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-healthier-based-diet-alzheimer-dementias.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:00:06 EDT news694856341 Unionization and working for a public employer are associated with significantly lower turnover among direct care workers (DCW), a group that provides daily care for older adults and those who are disabled and unable to care for themselves, UCLA-led research suggests. The findings on the role of DCW unionization, published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open, apply to both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, suggesting that unionization can play a significant role in keeping DCWs in the workforce—and save the health care system $1.5 billion a year in turnover costs. It can also lead to improvements in care quality due to increased job satisfaction and lower stress. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-unions-play-key-role-workers.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:20:01 EDT news694860430