Real Health Podcast: Understanding why we age – with Professor Rose Anne Kenny

On the Real Health podcast this week, Karl Henry was joined by Head of the ageing research program at Trinity College, Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny,

He started simply by asking Professor Kenny what is ageing.

“At the biological level, ageing results from the impact of the accumulation of a wide variety of molecular and cellular damage over time. This leads to a gradual decrease in physical and mental capacity, a growing risk of disease and ultimately death. These changes are neither linear nor consistent, and they are only loosely associated with a person’s age in years,” she said.

They also discussed the impact of ultra-processed foods on ageing;

“Two very simple rules of thumb. If you don't have it in the kitchen, if you see it in packaging, and you don't recognize one of the ingredients on the packaging and you don't have it in your kitchen. That's ultra processed,” she said.

"The other thing is if foods are packaged, they're processed because it means it's a shelf-life issue. They have to have something added to them to maintain shelf life.”

Professor Rose Anne Kenny said that environment matters a lot and that living in a forested area is good but living by the sea is better.

“It seems to dumb down the inflammatory process that we know is one of the triggers for aging and physical age problems,” she said.

You can listen to the full episode on Independent.ie or wherever you get your podcasts.