Issue 10 · August 27, 2026 · 5 min read
The Alzheimer's workup can start with blood
Two FDA-cleared blood tests four days apart; one is for adults with cognitive symptoms from age 40
Neither screens healthy people or diagnoses Alzheimer's alone. A review of 51 intervention studies also found only small average shifts in epigenetic aging clocks.
Centenarians' children had 42% lower mortality: Across three studies of 2,319 people, hypertension appeared about five years later than in comparison groups.
Immune aging followed sex-dependent timelines: In 3.8 million cells from 1,828 people, CD4 activity peaked near 40 and CD8 after 60; no intervention was tested.
Eight bat genomes highlighted cancer defenses: One long-lived species appeared to remove, not repair, damaged cells; human relevance is unknown.
Newer shingles vaccine had 9% lower cardiovascular burden than the older one: The seven-year study covered adults over 60; trials are needed.
Weight-loss surgery had mixed dementia results: In obesity and diabetes, 15-year dementia was 1.8% after surgery versus 2.7%; alcohol-related cases were higher. Registry data cannot prove cause.
Tirzepatide had fewer strokes than other GLP-1 drugs: In atrial fibrillation and diabetes, one-year risk was 2.1 points lower; records cannot prove cause.
GLP-1 users had lower tuberculosis rates than other diabetes-drug users: Across 143 health systems, records could not prove prevention.
Mitochondria did not restore one patient's vision: Doctors injected leg-muscle mitochondria into both eyes. No inflammation was reported.
Humanity launched a $29 biological-age add-on through Quest: It is available with several health profiles and needs no extra blood draw.
Tru Niagen reached nearly 300 GNC and Sam's Club stores: Wider distribution does not show that the NAD+ supplement slows aging.
England offered mail-in cervical screening: About 4 million overdue women ages 30–65 can order a swab in the NHS app and return it free by post.
Waist size detected existing diabetes better than BMI: The study covered 598,883 adults with normal or overweight BMI in 82 countries.
TIME named its first Longevity Leaders: The 12 include Yamanaka, Barzilai, Sinclair and AARP's Minter-Jordan.
João Pedro de Magalhães challenged the aging-clock analysis: He said chance could move some clocks without a positive control; whether Figure 1's control data answer him is unresolved.
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Two Alzheimer's blood-test clearances were announced four days apart
On August 20, C2N announced FDA clearance of PrecivityAD2 for adults 40 and older who have cognitive symptoms. The first FDA-cleared Alzheimer's blood test, cleared in May 2025, was limited to adults 55 and older.
Four days later, Roche announced clearance of Elecsys pTau217 for adults 55 and older with cognitive symptoms. It returns positive, intermediate or negative results using the same cutoffs in primary and specialty care.
C2N's validation study included 1,142 adults with cognitive symptoms. Of positive results, 97.6% were confirmed by amyloid PET or spinal-fluid testing. Of negative results, 93.1% were confirmed negative.
C2N expects the FDA-cleared version of PrecivityAD2 to become available later this year. Its current laboratory-developed version remains available.
Roche's test can run on more than 4,500 machines already installed in US laboratories.
Confirming brain amyloid has generally required a PET scan or spinal-fluid testing through specialist care. For eligible adults with cognitive symptoms, the workup can now begin with a blood draw.
Neither test is meant to screen people without symptoms or diagnose Alzheimer's by itself. Clinicians still need to interpret the result alongside symptoms, medical history and other findings.
More this week
Drugs and lifestyle produced small changes in aging clocks
Yale researchers pooled 51 intervention studies and recalculated 16 epigenetic clocks. Prescription drugs produced the largest average changes, while lifestyle interventions also moved the biomarkers. Supplements produced no significant overall reduction.
Even the detectable changes were small. On the paper's scale, an effect near 0.2 corresponds to about one year of epigenetic age. The reported drug and lifestyle averages were 0.09 and 0.04, respectively.
Movement in an aging clock does not show that aging slowed. A companion commentary notes that an unchanged clock could mean the intervention had no effect or that the clock failed to register one. The result alone cannot tell which.
Regular daily rhythms were linked to slower biological aging
Researchers compared years of Fitbit data from 2,222 All of Us participants with a blood-based measure of biological age. Higher rest-and-activity rhythm intensity was associated with 26% to 46% lower odds of accelerated biological aging.
The associations differed by sex. Timing and regularity had stronger links to the aging measure in women. In men, accelerated aging was associated with less stable rhythms, including early-morning surges and late-evening rebounds.
The study was observational, so it cannot show that changing a daily routine would slow aging. Consumer wearables also do not report the rhythm measure the researchers used.
Modifiable risk factors tracked differently with aging in women and men
Among 236,099 UK Biobank participants, women had a higher overall risk of accelerated aging, and lifestyle factors had stronger associations with the measure. Yet researchers attributed a larger share of accelerated aging to modifiable factors in men: about 17%, compared with 5% in women.
A separate Nature Aging study built sex-specific aging clocks from 172 measures in more than 100,000 people. The trajectories diverged in midlife.
These population-level findings cannot predict how a particular person is aging.
On the radar
Lab-grown muscle grafts helped aged and obese mice: The grafts formed blood vessels, contracted and improved muscle mass and metabolic health; no human testing yet.
Go deeper at longevity.io