Radák, Zsolt and Aczél, Dóra Tímea and Fejes, Iván and Mozaffaritabar, Soroosh and Pavlik, Gábor and Komka, Zsolt and Balogh, László and Bábszky, Zsófia and Bábszky, Gergely and Koltai, Erika and McGreevy, Kristen M. and Gordevicius, Juozas and Horvath, Steve and Kerepesi, Csaba (2025) Slowed epigenetic aging in Olympic champions compared to non-champions. GEROSCIENCE: OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN AGING ASSOCIATION (AGE), 47. pp. 2555-2565. ISSN 2509-2715 10.1007/s11357-024-01440-5

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Abstract

The lifestyle patterns of top athletes are highly disciplined, featuring strict exercise regimens, nutrition plans, and mental preparation, often beginning at a young age. Recently, it was shown that physically active individuals exhibit slowed epigenetic aging and better age-related outcomes. Here, we investigate whether the extreme intensity of physical activity of Olympic champions still has a beneficial effect on epigenetic aging. To test this hypothesis, we examined the epigenetic aging of 59 Hungarian Olympic champions and of the 332 control subjects, 205 were master rowers. We observed that Olympic champions exhibit slower epigenetic aging, applying seven state-of-the-art epigenetic aging clocks. Additionally, male champions who won any medal within the last 10 years showed slower epigenetic aging compared to other male champions, while female champions exhibited the opposite trend. We also found that wrestlers had higher age acceleration compared to gymnasts, fencers, and water polo players. We identified the top 20 genes that showed the most remarkable difference in promoter methylation between Olympic champions and non-champions. The hypo-methylated genes are involved in synaptic health, glycosylation, metal ion membrane transfer, and force generation . Most of the hyper-methylated genes were associated with cancer promotion. The data suggest that rigorous and long-term exercise from adolescence to adulthood has beneficial effects on epigenetic aging.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics and Computer Science > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science / számítástechnika, számítógéptudomány
Divisions:	Informatics Laboratory
SWORD Depositor:	MTMT Injector
Depositing User:	MTMT Injector
Date Deposited:	15 Apr 2025 08:11
Last Modified:	15 Apr 2025 08:11
URI:	https://eprints.sztaki.hu/id/eprint/10900

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