Centenarians show unique blood metabolite signature
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- Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine researchers identified a distinct blood metabolite pattern in centenarians, including unusually high levels of primary and secondary bile acids and preserved levels of several steroids, that differed from normal aging.
- The study analyzed blood samples from 213 participants in the New England Centenarian Study — 70 centenarians, their children, and age-matched controls — measuring approximately 1,495 small molecules via untargeted metabolomics.
- Stefano Monti, PhD, corresponding author and professor of medicine, said the findings point to 'measurable chemical fingerprints in the blood' associated with 'living a very long and healthy life.'
- Researchers cross-validated results against four additional metabolomics studies and built a machine-learning 'metabolomic clock' to estimate biological age from metabolite levels.
- The identified metabolic patterns were associated with a lower risk of death after blood collection, per the team's survival analysis.
- Findings were published in the journal GeroScience (DOI: 10.1007/s11357-026-02174-2), with Thomas Perls, MD leading the New England Centenarian Study.
- Monti cautioned that the cross-sectional design means cause and effect cannot yet be determined, and the results need validation in larger, more diverse populations before clinical translation.
Why it matters: The study pins specific bile-acid, steroid, NAD-related, and gut-bacterial pathways — plus a machine-learning 'metabolomic clock' — as candidates for future biomarkers and therapy targets, but Monti stressed the cross-sectional design means causation remains unproven and validation in larger, diverse cohorts is the next step before any clinical test or intervention.
