BLACK PEOPLE age more quickly than white people, a controversial new study from America has claimed.
The study used data on 7,644 black and white American participants, ages 30 and above, from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
During the study, the researchers calculated each participant’s 'biological age' by looking at 10 biomarkers that have been linked to aging, including C-reactive protein, serum creatinine, glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol.
The team then compared biological ages of blacks and whites as indicated from the biomarkers.
“Our results showed that, on average, blacks tend to be more than three years older biologically than whites,” Morgan Levine and Eileen Crimmins of the University of Southern California’s Davis School of Gerontology wrote in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
“Blacks experience morbidity and mortality earlier in the life course compared to whites.
“This is consistent with findings from previous studies reporting that blacks tend to have levels of biological risk factors that are indicative of someone significantly older chronologically.”
The report continued: “Such premature declines in health may be indicative of an acceleration of the aging process.'