A study published in JAMA Network Open on 11 July 2025 and authored by P. Correa-Burrows et al. has revealed that individuals who experience obesity since childhood or adolescence face significantly faster biological aging by early adulthood. This is part of the growing body of studies on the impact of obesity on the aging process.
Link Between Obesity and Aging: Obesity From Early Life Accelerates Epigenetic and Cellular Aging in Young Adults
Background
The researchers tracked a cohort of young adults aged 28–31 over time to examine the impact of obesity on biological aging. The research methodology was a multi-event case-controlled study embedded in the Chilean birth cohort of adults aged 28 to 31 years called the Santiago Longitudinal Study. The cohort was used to collect health and nutrition data.
Smooth BMI trajectories were modeled using cubic polynomials. Repeated BMI measurements were obtained from childhood to adulthood. The participants were later grouped into three. These included those who were heavy-weighted throughout their lives, have been persistently obese since adolescence, and have been persistently obese since childhood.
Primary outcomes identified were DNA methylation–based biological age using epigenetic clocks and telomere length. Both were measured from blood samples. Secondary outcomes include levels of aging-related biomarkers like various growth factors and hormones to evaluate inflammation, nutrient sensing, mitochondrial stress, and cell communication.
Several analysis methods were also utilized. The researchers compared biological age, telomere length, and biomarkers across the identified BMI trajectory groups. Note that they adjusted for potential confounders like race, income, and smoking. The effect sizes were quantified using Cohen’s f to reveal large effects for inflammatory markers.
Findings
• Persistent Obesity Accelerates Biological Aging: Individuals who had been obese from childhood or adolescence to early adulthood or ages 28 to 31 demonstrated greater biological aging compared to those with a stable healthy weight. This was measured based on DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks using established biomarker-based biological age tests like PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DundedinPACE.
• Telomere Length Was Shorter in Obese Individuals: These same individuals who had been obese from childhood or adolescence had significantly shorter telomeres, indicating more advanced cellular aging. Telomeres maintain chromosome integrity and genome stability during mitotic cell division. Its attrition is a well-established marker of biological aging and has been linked to increased risk for chronic diseases.
• Inflammatory Biomarkers Were Elevated: The results showed that currently obese individuals had higher levels of inflammatory markers. These include high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. Take note that these markers are linked with systemic inflammation and age-related diseases. Their elevated levels suggest chronic inflammation among young adults who have been obese since childhood or adolescence.
• Hormonal and Metabolic Imbalances Detected: Long-term obesity was also associated with altered levels of various growth factors and hormones. These include FGF-21, which plays a key role in diet-based metabolism, IGF-1, which has anabolic effects in adulthood, IGF-2, which is critical in maintaining stem cell niches in various tissues, and the hormone apelin, which is involved in cardiovascular function and metabolism.
The duration and onset of obesity were shown to affect aging severity. Those who became obese during childhood experienced greater biological aging than those who became obese during adolescence. This suggests that both the timing and the length of obesity play crucial roles in determining long-term biological health outcomes.
Implications
The study of P. Correa-Burrows et al. is part of the growing body of research into the link between obesity and accelerated aging process. The National Council on Aging notes that weight issues not only affect mobility but also increase the risk of age-related diseases, promote inflammation, shorten life at the cellular level, and increase the risk of cognitive issues.
Researchers V. Salvestrini, C. Sell, and A. Lorenzini identified nine hallmarks of the aging process that are affected by obesity. These were telomere attrition, epigenetic alteration, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, deregulated nutrient sensing, intercellular communication disruption, genomic instability, and loss of proteostasis.
The researchers came up with two hypotheses to explain how obesity accelerates aging. The first could come from the role of fat accumulation. This is based on earlier mouse experiments in which the removal of visceral fat resulted in extended lifespan, and mice that were genetically modified to have leaner bodies by default tend to live longer than the average.
Nutrient overload is the second hypothesis. This is supported by studies on how excess glucose can cause cellular senescence or cellular aging and how reducing glucose can prevent senescence in stem cells. Other studies have also shown that the overabundance of carbohydrates and fats can be toxic. These are called carbotoxicity and lipotoxicity.
The findings of P. Correa-Burrows et al. underscore the importance of preventive intervention in childhood and adolescence to reduce premature aging risk and the early onset of chronic diseases. They also noted that the use of epigenetic aging biomarkers could be incorporated into clinical settings to identify at-risk individuals and allow earlier intervention.
FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES
- Correa-Burrows, P., Burrows, R., Albala, C., Sepúlveda, C., Salech, F., Troncoso, R., Bunout, D., and Gonzalez-Billault, C. 2025. “Long-Term Obesity and Biological Aging in Young Adults.” JAMA Network Open. 8(7): e2520011. DOI: 1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.20011
- National Council on Aging. 9 May 2025. “4 Surprising Ways Obesity Affects Aging.” National Council on Aging. Available online
- Salvestrini, V., Sell, C., and Lorenzini, A. 2019. “Obesity May Accelerate the Aging Process.” Frontiers in Endocrinology. 10. DOI: 3389/fendo.2019.00266