Study finds costly biological age tests add little for consumers

A study by Tampere University has found that expensive tests marketed as measures of biological age do not provide consumers with new information about their risk of illness, Yle reports.

The same information can be obtained through traditional measurements such as waist circumference, body mass index, diet, physical activity, and assessments of smoking and alcohol use, according to the study.

Epigenetic clocks are widely used in ageing research to measure biological age, or the amount of ageing-related change that has accumulated in the body. The tests are now also being marketed directly to consumers, often at prices of hundreds of euros per test.

Saara Marttila, a university researcher who led the study, said the tests are useful tools for scientific research but do not offer consumers anything new.

“Unless someone can prove that an epigenetic clock really predicts better who will become ill and who will not, expensive measurements are of no benefit to consumers,” Marttila said.

According to Marttila, models combining traditional measurements can distinguish between people who will become ill and those who will not. Even body mass index, despite the criticism it has received, remains a good predictor of illness at population level.

Marttila said marketing can make biological age tests appear more scientific by presenting them as a way to understand ageing and reveal a person’s “real age”. She criticised advertising that presents the tests as part of general wellbeing and health, saying their results are not straightforward.

The people involved in the Tampere University study were middle-aged. Marttila said younger and especially healthy middle-aged people may be most interested in modern illness-risk measurements, particularly if their traditional health measures are already within a healthy range. However, there is no evidence that epigenetic measurements work especially well for this group.

Marttila compared the trend with smartwatches and smart rings, which research suggests are used more by people who are already healthier and financially better off. She said official health recommendations were sufficient for most people and that biological age could safely be left to researchers.