Skin, a mirror of aging: A study reveals how skin elasticity reflects the body's health.

Aging , before health, was probably the most important concern. At least until a few years ago, when medicine for healthy longevity began to develop and become known to the public.

After all, external signs are the first thing we notice, especially the impact on our skin and hair. However, science is now beginning to show that the visible signs of time go beyond the superficial.

According to research published in Aging Cell , the biomechanical properties of the skin (its ability to stretch and recover) are closely linked to overall health and the biological processes of aging .

What is intrinsic ability ?

The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the concept of intrinsic capacity to describe the set of physical and mental faculties that enable a person to function in daily life. This concept includes five areas: memory and cognitive functions, mobility, psychological state, vitality and strength, vision, and hearing.

The decline in intrinsic ability often precedes the onset of disabilities, making it a key marker for detecting and preventing problems before they become more severe.

The INSPIRE-T study

The European INSPIRE-T project has been following more than a thousand adults between the ages of 20 and 93 since 2019 to evaluate biomarkers of aging , age-related diseases , and their relationship with intrinsic capacity. For the recently published analysis, data was taken from 441 volunteers who had their skin elasticity and viscoelasticity assessed using a non-invasive device called a cutometer, which applies gentle suction to the arm and measures how the skin deforms and recovers.

For three years, the evolution of the participants' intrinsic capacity was also analyzed and the data was compared with biological clocks based on epigenetics and chronic inflammation , two of the processes most closely linked to aging (for our more advanced readers, they were: Horvath pan-tissue , Horvath skin & blood, Hannum, PhenoAge, GrimAge, DunedinPACE and the inflammatory clock–iAge).

The results of the work are revealing:

• Lower skin elasticity leads to poorer overall health : those with less firm skin also showed lower cognitive, physical, and sensory performance . These included accelerated markers on the GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DunedinPACE clocks.
• Slow-to-recover skin predicts trouble : Excess viscoelasticity (skin that deforms but takes a long time to return to its original shape) predicted faster functional decline , especially in older men.
• Inflammation and skin go hand in hand : volunteers with a higher "inflammatory age" had poorer skin elasticity. Chronic inflammation affects both the skin's condition and its intrinsic capacity.
• The skin reflects the aging of the entire body: the authors conclude that skin changes mirror processes that also affect other organs.

After all, the skin is the body's largest organ . It's no surprise that poor general health can affect it, although other environmental factors, especially sun exposure, can accelerate its deterioration.

Chronic inflammation: the silent killer

One of the most striking findings was the relationship with age-related chronic inflammation , known as inflammaging . This phenomenon, linked to the immune system , is behind many aging-related diseases , from Alzheimer's to diabetes.

Research suggests that loss of skin firmness may be both a consequence and a reflection of this systemic inflammation , reinforcing the idea that the skin is a sensor of what's happening inside . We know that factors included as Hallmarks of Aging, such as oxidative stress and cellular senescence , clearly affect skin health and are in turn linked to chronic inflammation.

What is the relevance of this discovery?

The great potential of this discovery lies in its clinical applicability . While we have been using the cutometer to measure skin elasticity and viscoelasticity as a marker of cutaneous aging for over 15 years, until now its correlation with other complex and expensive biological clocks of general aging and the decline of intrinsic capacities had not been so clearly seen. The skin can fulfill this function through a simple, noninvasive test, opening up new avenues in preventive medicine, such as identifying people at greatest risk of deterioration, evaluating treatments or lifestyle changes, or designing personalized healthy aging programs.

In the words of the researchers, the skin could become a " window into global aging ." The authors caution that there are still open questions. The study found gender differences . In women, skin elasticity was linked to intrinsic capacity in various domains, while in men the determining factor was viscoelasticity . In older men, an excess of this parameter was associated with more rapid decline .

The study focused on the skin of a single area of ​​the body and did not evaluate aspects such as hydration. Furthermore, the relationship between skin parameters and intrinsic capacity is reversed in young people . To consolidate these findings, further research is needed, especially one that integrates molecular analyses of the skin and compares sun-exposed and non-sun-exposed areas .

The study leaves a very personal message: our skin isn't just a matter of aesthetics ; it's a reflection of our overall health. Good lifestyle habits can protect us not only from the inside, but also from the outside. If we combine this with good UV protection , we'll be keeping not only our body's largest organ healthy, but also the one that speaks to our health on the outside. Health and aesthetics go hand in hand.