Genetic risk and lifestyle linked to estimated brain aging
An observational study of 46,843 UK Biobank participants linked higher genetic risk and unhealthy lifestyles to faster aging estimated from brain scans.
In an observational study of 46,843 UK Biobank participants, researchers combined brain scans with genetic data and lifestyle measures. They developed and validated a model to estimate brain age from the scans. Their analyses compared participants at one point in time and examined changes over time.
Higher genetic risk and unhealthy lifestyles were associated with faster estimated brain aging. At one genetic site, people carrying a risk variant showed a stronger association between poor lifestyle and brain aging. These carriers also showed reduced estimated brain aging under healthy lifestyle conditions.
Why it matters
Understanding how lifestyle interacts with inherited risk may help guide more individually tailored approaches to healthy brain aging.
Caveats
The observational links do not establish cause and effect. The findings concern brain age estimated from scans in UK Biobank participants.
The paper
Association of genetic risk, lifestyle, and their interaction with MRI-based brain aging
Kunming Institute of Zoology
Translational Psychiatry, 11 Oct 2026, CC BY-NC-ND
