“If we cure cardiovascular disease, we will not gain more than 2 years; truly, we have to treat aging to achieve longevity beyond 10 years.” This is how Nir Barzilai, MD, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, began his inaugural lecture at the Longevity World Forum 2026, which was held recently in Madrid, Spain.

As he said in his talk, the goal is to understand aging and hack the process that makes humans vulnerable to all diseases at once.

For that reason, the specialist distinguished between chronological age and biological age, we can be 70 years old chronologically and in very poor physical condition or be 90 and in the fullness of life. The key is understanding that aging drives disease, not the other way around.

In this context, he continued by referring to a study of families with centenarians in New York. These individuals not only live longer, but they live better lives for much longer. They are not frequent users of hospitals; they are the engine of the silver economy. He noted that while a person might spend the last 15 or 20 years of life struggling with chronic disease, these centenarians reduce that period to weeks.

Drug Repurposing

Barzilai favors what he calls drug repurposing — using medications already approved for other indications that may also have antiaging properties.

For example, metformin, a common diabetes medication, is now being seen as a potential universal protector. During COVID pandemic, it was observed that people with diabetes who were taking metformin had about half the hospitalizations and deaths compared with those not taking the drug.

Among antidiabetic medications, he also mentioned glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, which could become a tool to replicate the benefits of calorie restriction without the hardship of extreme dieting. He also cited sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, which have shown in clinical trials a 40% reduction in all-cause mortality.

Growth Hormone

Studies have shown that high levels of growth hormone after age 50 are harmful — a pattern not seen before that age. This may be because the body shifts from a building mode to a recycling and maintenance mode, although the reason is not yet certain. Around fifties or sixties, the human body reaches a biological tipping point, and continuing to promote cell growth at that age may be counterproductive. Rather than investing resources in producing new cells or tissues — which can encourage processes like cancer — lower levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) induce the body to enter a maintenance and repair mode.

Research has moved from observation to intervention, with lines of work focused on blocking these receptors in animals showing promising results. “When we gave them this IGF-1 receptor antibody, the animals lived longer, but above all, the period in which they lived in good health increased significantly,” he said.

According to Barzilai, IGF-1 levels act as a double-edged sword: At 40, high levels are associated with fewer diseases, but after about age 50 or 60 onward, the relationship reverses, and low levels become a biomarker of longevity. For this reason, he has expressed his support for continued research in this area.

Precision Medicine

Precision medicine also has a role in aging by analyzing blood proteins to estimate the biological age of each organ. “Through proteomics — the analysis of proteins in the blood — we will know not only our biological age but also which organ needs monitoring,” he said.

Improving longevity is not just for a few; it is a tool to improve the lives of many people, especially those with accelerated aging, such as cancer survivors or people with Down syndrome.

Devoting time to optimizing your health is far better than treating disease, and for that it is necessary to adopt healthy lifestyle habits, focused on proper nutrition, regular physical activity, stress management, and maintaining a full social life supported by robust social networks.

The speaker reported no conflicts of interest regarding the content of this conference.

This story has been translated from Univadis Spain, part of the Medscape Professional Network.