When looking for a neighborhood to live in, lower rents, safety, and good schools are usually the top priorities. But a new study has found another factor that might need to be added to the list: the absence of "zombie cells."
Researchers from New York University have found that some neighborhoods cause their residents to age faster than others, not because of pollution or a lack of health services as some might think, but because of poverty and chronic economic pressures.
“Our health is shaped not only by our individual behaviors, but also by the environments in which we live,” says Mariana Rodriguez, the study’s lead researcher. “This study shows that the structural conditions around us can become biologically embedded in our bodies and affect how quickly we age.”
The researchers analyzed data from 1,215 American adults who provided blood samples as part of a larger study. They then assessed the neighborhoods they lived in based on several factors, including air and water quality, education level, health insurance, homeownership, and income.
Surprisingly, residents of "low-opportunity neighborhoods" (the poorest and most deprived areas) showed significantly higher levels of a biomarker called CDKN2A RNA, a marker scientifically known to measure the biological aging of cells. This marker rises when cells are subjected to stress and cumulative damage, particularly to DNA.
This indicator is directly linked to what are known as "zombie cells," which are damaged cells that have stopped dividing but have not died. These cells do not die but remain in the tissues and cause chronic inflammation, which accelerates aging and leads to age-related diseases such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, and muscle weakness.
Interestingly, researchers found that the primary cause of this accelerated aging was not pollution, education, or healthcare, but rather socioeconomic factors: employment, homeownership, and income. In other words, the constant stress of poverty, job insecurity, and the inability to own a home is what accelerates aging at the cellular level.
"The stresses related to income, jobs, and housing are not fleeting events, but rather ongoing conditions that shape our daily lives," says Adolfo Cuevas, who supervised the study. "We discovered that chronic stress resulting from economic deprivation is the primary driver of cellular aging."
It is worth noting that there are ways to get rid of "zombie cells," including special drugs called senolytics, regular exercise, and taking some natural substances such as "fisetin," which is found in high concentrations in strawberries (but in very large quantities), or nutritional supplements.
Researcher Rodriguez emphasizes the importance of the findings: "Improving living conditions, especially socioeconomic resources, could be key to promoting healthy aging and reducing health disparities. But if we really want to address these disparities, we need to think about change at the structural level, not just the individual level."
The study notes that this isn't the first research to link where you live to your health. Previous studies have shown that residents of extremely poor neighborhoods are often exposed to toxic air and dangerous streets, while neighborhoods that encourage walking and provide green spaces promote overall health. But what's new here is that chronic economic stress alone, even without pollution, can accelerate aging from within.
