By the year 2050 approximately 25% of the population will be older than 65 years of age, with some regions of the world exceeding 40%. In the United States, the number of adults aged 65 and over is expected to double during this period and those 80 years of age and older will at least triple - from ~10 million to over 30 million. Advancing age is associated with increased risk of developing chronic diseases and disorders (e.g., metabolic impairment and type 2 diabetes mellitus), which limit healthspan — i.e., the component of an individual's life during which one is generally healthy and devoid of serious chronic disorders. In the absence of effective intervention, reduced healthspan, combined with the number of older adults, will contribute to marked, perhaps unsustainable, increases in health care burden. An intriguing therapeutic target for potentially extending healthspan is metabolic function.
With an increasing number of older adults, there will likely be an accompanying and potentially unmanageable burden of metabolic diseases. Although there are synthetic pharmacological agents available for treating metabolic impairment (e.g., metformin), the number of available natural therapeutic compounds used to treat age-related metabolic dysfunction is limited. As such, developing or re-purposing natural therapeutic strategies for targeting age-related metabolic impairment is a significant biomedical research priority.
We welcome submissions (original research articles and reviews) focused on novel nutrition interventions (e.g., dietary patterns or single ingredients) for improving metabolic function with advancing age and the mechanisms governing these responses. Metabolic function in this case should be interpreted broadly, as the intent of this article collection is to address all facets of metabolic function, including but not limited to: glucose homeostasis, insulin resistance, body weight, and adiposity. Furthermore, this Research Topic invites submissions from all aspects of the translational research continuum (cells to C. Elegans to Drosophila to rodents to humans).
By the year 2050 approximately 25% of the population will be older than 65 years of age, with some regions of the world exceeding 40%. In the United States, the number of adults aged 65 and over is expected to double during this period and those 80 years of age and older will at least triple - from ~10 million to over 30 million. Advancing age is associated with increased risk of developing chronic diseases and disorders (e.g., metabolic impairment and type 2 diabetes mellitus), which limit healthspan — i.e., the component of an individual's life during which one is generally healthy and devoid of serious chronic disorders. In the absence of effective intervention, reduced healthspan, combined with the number of older adults, will contribute to marked, perhaps unsustainable, increases in health care burden. An intriguing therapeutic target for potentially extending healthspan is metabolic function.
With an increasing number of older adults, there will likely be an accompanying and potentially unmanageable burden of metabolic diseases. Although there are synthetic pharmacological agents available for treating metabolic impairment (e.g., metformin), the number of available natural therapeutic compounds used to treat age-related metabolic dysfunction is limited. As such, developing or re-purposing natural therapeutic strategies for targeting age-related metabolic impairment is a significant biomedical research priority.
We welcome submissions (original research articles and reviews) focused on novel nutrition interventions (e.g., dietary patterns or single ingredients) for improving metabolic function with advancing age and the mechanisms governing these responses. Metabolic function in this case should be interpreted broadly, as the intent of this article collection is to address all facets of metabolic function, including but not limited to: glucose homeostasis, insulin resistance, body weight, and adiposity. Furthermore, this Research Topic invites submissions from all aspects of the translational research continuum (cells to C. Elegans to Drosophila to rodents to humans).