Can This Cheek Swab Tell You When You'll Die?

What if you could glimpse your future health and life expectancy with just a simple cheek swab? Thanks to groundbreaking research, scientists say you can.

Discover how this innovative test could revolutionize health predictions—and how you think about your overall health and lifestyle.

Key Takeaways

• Science shows that participants with higher biological age relative to their chronological age faced a significantly greater risk of death.
• A simple cheek swab is being used by some as an alternative to blood tests, making it more accessible for tracking health and aging.
• Positive behaviors such as regular exercise and a healthy diet lower biological age, while stress, smoking, and poor sleep accelerate aging.

Are You Aging Too Fast? A Test May Have the Answer

If you watch detective dramas, you’ll have seen people having their cheeks swabbed to provide a sample of DNA. But you don’t need to be a crime suspect to undergo this procedure.

That’s because the same sample can now be used to provide a non-invasive, painless and seemingly accurate test for measuring your biological age. How does it work?

The most accurate way of determining a person's biological age is through changes over time in DNA methylation – the process by which genes are turned “on” and “off.”

Fortunately, we aren’t mere bystanders in this process. While genetics play a part, environmental factors (epigenetics) can alter the behavior of genes to affect how they build and maintain our bodies. This means we can impact DNA methylation in a positive way.

For instance, we previously reported how a low-glycemic, plant-based, keto-leaning diet can reverse biological age by three years within weeks.

Now that you understand why this test works, let’s look at the “how.”

The Science Behind Measuring Biological Age with DNA

Until now, doctors had to use blood samples to measure DNA methylation, but a non-invasive and more accessible test using cheek cells is now available. Scientists developed it using machine learning to leverage cheek swab results. In other words, researchers “trained” this test by analyzing 20,000 DNA methylation sites on over 8,000 demographically diverse people aged 18 to 100 and linking them to a health and lifestyle score.

This health and lifestyle score is based on an epigenetic clock that’s proven its worth over the last decade by connecting higher biological age to negative lifestyle factors such as smoking, heavy alcohol intake, stress, low sleep quality, and obesity. It also markedly increased biological age in people with certain health conditions known to hasten aging. On the flip side, this clock lowers biological age in connection with health-promoting behaviors such as more frequent weekly exercise.

But this new cheek swab test takes these results to the next level… directly estimating mortality.

High Ability To Predict Mortality

In a new study of the cheek swab test, researchers examined methylation data of 1,513 men and women from the Lothian Birth Cohort, a long-term Scottish research program. All participants were born in 1921 and 1936 and were tracked throughout their lives until they died. Every three years, they had their blood analyzed for changes in DNA methylation.

Even though CheekAge was tested using cheek cells, not blood cells, the results showed it had a high ability to predict the risk of mortality, comparing favorably to a blood-tested clock.

Those in the group showing the most significant gap between biological and chronological age were 148 percent more likely to die in the year they died than those in the lowest group.

In addition, they reached a 50% risk of mortality about 7.8 years earlier than the group with the “youngest” biological age.

Breakthrough in Longevity Science: Your Genes Hold the Key

Longevity scientist Dr. Maxim Shokhirev from Tally Health, New York, who led the study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging in October, said: “The fact that our epigenetic clock trained on cheek cells predicts mortality when measuring the methylome (gene-modifying chemicals) in blood cells suggests there are common mortality signals across tissues.

“This implies that a simple, non-invasive cheek swab can be a valuable alternative for studying and tracking the biology of aging.”

The clock also captured genes strongly linked to mortality. For instance, PDZRN4, a possible tumor suppressor, and ALPK2, which in animal models is implicated in cancer and heart health. Other noteworthy genes were involved in cancer, osteoporosis, inflammation, and metabolic syndrome.

Although the CheekAge, or TallyAge test kit as it’s now called, is available for sale, it hasn’t been validated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Research is ongoing, and the scientific team will continue to carry out studies to find out what other aspects of health and lifespan the test can uncover.

Summary

CheekAge is a revolutionary non-invasive test that uses DNA methylation in cheek cells to measure biological age and predict health outcomes, including mortality risk. Developed using data from over 8,000 people, this epigenetic clock identifies how lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and stress affect aging. A recent study on lifelong participants in the Lothian Birth Cohort revealed that biological age gaps significantly predicted mortality, providing strong evidence of its reliability. While the test is not yet FDA-approved, it holds promise as a game-changing tool for tracking aging and longevity.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is CheekAge? CheekAge is a test that measures biological age through DNA methylation in cheek cells, offering insights into aging and mortality risk.
• How accurate is the test? Recent studies show CheekAge accurately predicts mortality risk, with findings correlating well to biological age and lifestyle factors.
• Can lifestyle changes improve biological age? Yes, positive habits like healthy eating, regular exercise, and stress reduction can significantly lower biological age.
• Is CheekAge FDA-approved? No, CheekAge is currently available but has not yet been validated by the FDA. Research is ongoing.
• What are the potential applications of CheekAge? Beyond mortality predictions, CheekAge could be used to study the effects of diet, exercise, and other health interventions on aging.