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Why We Remember Differently as We Get Older

Research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) is shedding new light on how memory changes as we age, revealing that older adults tend to recall fewer specific details and may find it more difficult to switch between different types of memories. Rather than showing memory ageing as a simple process of decline, the findings suggest that vivid, moment-specific recollections may gradually give way to broader, more generalised knowledge.

Lead researcher Prof Louis Renoult, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said memories tend to become less detailed and more focused on the overall story as people get older. Older adults may therefore retain the “big picture” of an experience while recalling fewer of the sights, sounds, emotions and other details associated with a particular moment.

The researchers investigated autobiographical memory – the personal experiences that make up the stories of our lives. These can include specific, one-time events, such as a birthday party, as well as categoric memories involving repeated or general experiences, such as commuting to work. The team was particularly interested in how easily younger and older adults could move between these different forms of memory.

The study involved 37 students and 37 older adults from the community. Participants were given cue words, such as “market”, and asked to recall both specific and categoric memories. They first recalled each type separately before being asked to switch back and forth between them, increasing the demands on cognitive control. Researchers assessed how accurately participants followed the instructions and the amount of detail contained in their responses.

Across both age groups, memory performance declined when participants had to switch between memory types. However, older adults had particular difficulty recalling categoric memories, such as routine experiences like commuting, under switching conditions. Their ability to retrieve specific memories, such as a particular birthday celebration, was less affected, suggesting that some forms of memory retrieval may be more vulnerable to ageing when people must adapt quickly between different mental tasks.

Important differences also emerged in the content of the memories. When older adults recalled specific events, their accounts contained fewer details tied directly to the experience, including sights, sounds and emotions. At the same time, they included more semantic information – general knowledge, interpretations and broader understanding related to the event. A similar pattern appeared when participants recalled categoric memories.

The findings suggest that age-related memory changes are not simply about forgetting information. Instead, ageing may change how memories are accessed, organised and expressed. According to Prof Renoult, the reduced richness of older adults’ recollections may reflect changes in brain systems involved in retrieving detailed contextual information and managing more demanding cognitive tasks, particularly when people need to switch rapidly between different forms of recall.

These changes could have implications for everyday activities that require flexible thinking and memory, including storytelling, decision-making and problem-solving. But the shift towards generalised knowledge may also bring advantages. Drawing on broader semantic knowledge can support pattern recognition, efficient communication and wisdom accumulated through experience. The researchers hope that a better understanding of how memory evolves throughout life could ultimately help inform approaches designed to support healthy cognitive ageing.

More information: Melega, Greta et al, Age-related differences in autobiographical memory recall: impact of retrieval mode switching, Psychology and Aging. DOI: 10.1037/pag0001009

Journal information: Psychology and Aging Provided by University of East Anglia

Brexit Changed the UK Health Care Workforce but Did Little to Ease Doctor Shortages

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The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) was associated with major shifts in health care worker migration and worsening physician shortages in England, according to a new study published in JAMA Health Forum. The findings suggest Brexit changed where the UK recruited doctors and nurses without resolving persistent workforce shortages.

Researchers found that an immediate decline followed the 2016 Brexit referendum in doctors and nurses arriving from EU countries. Although recruitment from non-EU countries increased in subsequent years, physician vacancies in England’s National Health Service (NHS) continued to rise, while overall nurse immigration declined.

Like many high-income countries, the UK relies heavily on internationally trained health professionals to meet workforce needs. Before Brexit, health care workers from EU countries could move relatively freely to the UK. Researchers examined how the referendum affected these migration patterns and whether changes in international recruitment contributed to workforce shortages.

Researchers from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, London South Bank University, and the WHO Europe Human Resources for Health Group analysed health workforce data from 2008 to 2019. The study included more than 418,000 physicians and 358,000 nurses who migrated to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Researchers compared trends in the UK with those in 32 other high-income OECD countries before and after the referendum.

The Brexit referendum was associated with an immediate decline of about 825 physicians and 2,771 nurses arriving from EU countries in 2016. In the years that followed, immigration from non-EU countries increased by an estimated 3,110 physicians and 1,437 nurses annually. Despite this increase, NHS physician vacancies in England grew by an estimated 383 positions, indicating that increased recruitment from elsewhere did not fully offset workforce pressures.

“The Brexit referendum changed where the United Kingdom recruited its health care workforce, with fewer clinicians arriving from Europe and more from countries in Africa and Asia. Our findings show that these shifts were not enough to prevent growing physician shortages within the National Health Service,” said lead author Tarun Ramesh, a research fellow at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.

The researchers also found that migration from EU countries began declining well before the UK formally left the EU in 2020. Senior author Hao Yu, an associate professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, said the findings demonstrate that health care workforce migration can be highly sensitive to policy signals. Uncertainty surrounding future immigration rules was associated with changes in the flow of doctors and nurses even before the formal withdrawal.

The researchers said the findings have broader implications for countries considering immigration restrictions. Policymakers should consider how such policies could affect health care staffing and access to care, particularly in health systems that depend heavily on internationally trained professionals. They should also consider the consequences of increasing recruitment from countries in Africa and Asia that may already face shortages within their own health care workforces.

More information: Tarun Ramesh et al, Health Care Workforce Immigration to the UK After Its European Union Membership Referendum, JAMA Health Forum. DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2026.2868

Journal information: JAMA Health Forum Provided by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute

Study Reveals Persistent Food Insecurity in Formerly Redlined Areas

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Poor housing, high crime and underperforming schools may have a greater influence on access to healthy food than transportation or income in neighbourhoods historically affected by redlining, according to a new study. Redlining was a discriminatory practice that denied loans, insurance and mortgages to residents of certain neighbourhoods, disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority communities.

The study, led by Sebastian Linde, a health policy researcher at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, examined why some neighbourhoods have better access to healthy food than others. The findings suggest that simply opening more grocery stores may not be enough to address food insecurity. Instead, researchers say improving the broader neighbourhood environment could be key to creating lasting change.

“This suggests that simply adding grocery stores is not the answer — solutions should be found for the entire neighborhood environment,” Linde said. He noted that understanding the underlying causes of limited food access could help city planners and policymakers develop more effective strategies rather than focusing solely on increasing the number of food retailers.

The issue is particularly important because poor diets are closely associated with obesity and other health problems. Adult obesity in the United States has risen substantially over the past two decades, while severe obesity has also increased. Financial hardship can further compound the problem, as households with limited resources may rely on cheaper, less nutritious foods. Food shortages can also contribute to stress and unhealthy eating patterns when food becomes available.

Although redlining was outlawed in 1968, researchers say its effects continue to shape many communities. Historically redlined neighbourhoods often experience persistent poverty and segregation, along with other social and economic disadvantages. Many of these communities also have numerous fast-food restaurants but few grocery stores offering healthier food choices, potentially contributing to long-term differences in health outcomes.

The researchers analysed data from nearly 9,600 neighbourhoods across 38 states, combining U.S. Census information with historical redlining maps and data comparing the availability of grocery stores and fast-food restaurants. They also used a specialised dataset designed to examine connections between historical differences in access to credit and present-day health disparities. The analysis considered factors including housing, education, crime and safety, transportation, social cohesion, the built environment, and community wealth and income.

The results showed that historically redlined areas generally experienced greater neighbourhood hardship, although access to healthy food varied considerably. Some communities had few or no healthy food options, while others had relatively good access. Among the factors examined, high crime rates, substandard housing and poorer educational environments emerged as the strongest drivers associated with differences in food access.

Linde said improving food security will likely require collaboration among housing, city planning, public health agencies and community organisations. Strategies such as community gardens could also strengthen social connections while supporting healthier neighbourhoods. Although the study cannot establish cause and effect and did not examine factors such as food affordability or quality, the researchers say neighbourhood-level approaches could help communities address the long-term consequences of redlining and develop locally appropriate solutions to improve food security.

More information: Rebekah J. Walker et al, Structural Drivers of Neighborhood Food Access: Implications for Policy Change, Obesity. DOI: 10.1002/oby.70205

Journal information: Obesity Provided by Texas A&M University

Smokers Left Behind by Health Systems in the World’s Poorest Countries

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Only 13 low- and middle-income countries provide smokers with the full range of support needed to quit, leaving around 1.3 billion people without access to effective care, according to a new study. Researchers warn that major gaps in tobacco treatment remain, particularly in countries carrying the greatest burden of tobacco-related disease.

Researchers from the University of York, New York University and Harvard University found that most smokers worldwide have limited access to effective quitting services. Tobacco remains the world’s leading cause of preventable death, killing more than seven million people each year, yet treatment for tobacco addiction is still unavailable or inadequate for much of the global population.

More than 80% of tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries, where healthcare systems often face substantial disease burdens while having fewer resources to help people stop smoking. Although many governments report that cessation support is available, the researchers found that only 13 lower-income countries provide the standard of care recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), combining behavioural counselling with free or subsidised medication.

By examining healthcare delivery in countries including India and Vietnam, the researchers found that a complex mix of local factors influences access to smoking-cessation services. These include cultural attitudes towards smoking, government policies, healthcare financing, available resources and political interference from the tobacco industry. Such differences can significantly affect whether smokers are able to obtain appropriate treatment.

Because these barriers vary considerably between countries and communities, the researchers argue that smoking-cessation programmes need to be adapted to local circumstances rather than following a single global model. Professor Kamran Siddiqi, from Hull York Medical School, said healthcare systems have a fundamental responsibility to treat tobacco addiction, noting that effective interventions can be inexpensive to implement while producing substantial health and economic benefits.

The review, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, highlights several low-cost strategies that could expand access to cessation services even in countries with limited healthcare resources. These include national quitlines and mobile health services that provide advice remotely, as well as community health workers who can reach smokers living in rural and underserved areas.

The researchers also recommend making tobacco screening and treatment a routine part of healthcare. Approaches such as “Ask-Advise-Connect” allow healthcare professionals to identify tobacco users during regular appointments, advise them to quit and connect them directly with treatment. Proven smoking-cessation medications, including nicotine patches, cytisine and varenicline, are also considered cost-effective and should be more widely licensed and accessible. The researchers argue that governments or insurers should cover full courses of treatment so that cost does not prevent people from receiving help.

Professor Donna Shelly of New York University said ensuring equitable access to comprehensive tobacco-cessation support as part of standard healthcare is essential to preventing millions of tobacco-related deaths worldwide. The researchers conclude that expanding affordable, locally appropriate treatment could substantially reduce the global health and economic burden of tobacco, particularly in lower-income countries where most tobacco users live.

More information: Donna Shelley et al, Evidence-Based Tobacco-Cessation Strategies for Low- and Middle-Income Countries, New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra2507061

Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine Provided by University of York

Good Friends, Better Health: Global Study Highlights the Power of Friendship

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A major global study has found that fulfilling friendships and close social relationships are strongly associated with better physical and mental health. Published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Mental Health, the research analysed data from more than 200,000 adults and found that people who were more satisfied with their friendships and relationships tended to report better overall health and well-being.

The study, led by Dr Veli Durmuş of Kütahya Health Sciences University in Türkiye, included 204,907 adults aged 18 and older across 22 countries. Participants came from culturally and geographically diverse countries, including the UK, US, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain, India, Japan, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Mexico, making it one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind.

Using data from the Global Flourishing Study, researchers examined participants’ satisfaction with their friendships and close relationships, as well as the quality of their childhood relationships with their mothers and fathers. Participants also rated their current mental and physical health, while researchers considered other factors including income and education.

The results showed a clear pattern: people who reported greater satisfaction with their friendships and close relationships were also more likely to report better mental and physical health. Positive childhood relationships with parents were similarly associated with better health and well-being in adulthood, although this association was weaker than that observed for current friendships and relationships.

Dr Durmuş says the findings highlight the importance of social connections throughout life. While early family relationships may contribute to later well-being, people’s social environments continue to evolve. Friendships, partnerships and other meaningful relationships developed in adulthood may strengthen or modify the influence of childhood experiences and provide important sources of emotional and social support.

Previous research suggests that strong relationships can help protect people against stress, support self-esteem and help individuals manage their emotions positively. The new findings provide broader international evidence that the quality of social relationships is closely connected with health across different cultures. However, some differences were observed by age and country. Mental health scores were lower among people in their mid-thirties to late forties than among those aged 18 to 34, while scores were higher among adults aged 65 and older. Friendship and relationship satisfaction were highest in Indonesia and lowest in Japan.

Other social and demographic factors were also associated with health. Being married, having sufficient financial resources and identifying with a religion were linked with better mental and physical health scores. Overall, the findings suggest that strong social relationships may represent a “universal pillar” of well-being across diverse cultural and national settings.

Dr Durmuş argues that policymakers should recognise social relationships as an important component of public health and incorporate social connection into health promotion and prevention strategies. However, the study cannot establish cause and effect. Because the findings are based on self-reported information collected at one point in time, they reflect participants’ subjective perceptions of their relationships and health rather than proving that stronger friendships directly cause better health.

More information: Veli Durmuş, Do social and family relationships affect self-rated mental and physical health? Evidence from nationally representative samples across 22 countries, Journal of Mental Health. DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2026.2695973

Journal information: Journal of Mental Health Provided by Taylor & Francis Group

Endometriosis Takes a Financial Toll: Women May Lose a Month’s Pay Annually

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Menstrual leave and flexible work arrangements are the forms of workplace support women with endometriosis say would help them most, according to a new study by researchers at Semmelweis University published in Preventive Medicine Reports. Pain and fatigue can contribute to work absences and reduced job performance, creating significant financial consequences for women with the condition.

The first large-scale study of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe found that women with endometriosis lose an average of €1,757 in income each year—roughly equivalent to one month’s average salary in Hungary. The estimate reflects income lost because of work absences and does not include reduced productivity while at work or health care expenses.

Researchers analysed data from 566 women with endometriosis and 447 women without the condition, using internationally validated questionnaires to assess work productivity, absenteeism, and work ability. Over four weeks, women with endometriosis lost an average of 12.7 work hours because of health-related problems, compared with 5.7 hours among women in the control group.

“The impact of endometriosis is not only a health issue but also a major social and economic one,” said Dr. Dóra Balogh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Semmelweis University and senior author of the study. She noted that because the condition affects women during highly active stages of their lives, it can have consequences for employment, career development, and long-term financial security.

Endometriosis affects about 10% of women of reproductive age worldwide. It is a chronic gynecological condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. The condition can cause chronic pelvic pain, painful periods, fatigue, and, in some cases, infertility, while diagnosis may take years after symptoms first appear.

The study also found substantial differences in work ability. Among women with endometriosis, 42% had poor work ability, compared with 17.9% of women without the condition. Poor work ability indicates that health problems make it more difficult for a person to perform their job and may increase the risk of prolonged work disability or eventually leaving the workforce.

“The most surprising finding was that nearly half of the women with endometriosis fell into this category,” said Dr. Dominika Miklós, a resident physician at Semmelweis University and first author of the study. She said that without appropriate support, endometriosis may make everyday work more difficult and threaten women’s ability to remain in the workforce over the long term.

Workplace awareness remains another challenge. Fifty-four percent of respondents said their employer had little or no knowledge of endometriosis, while only 17% believed their workplace was sufficiently informed. Women identified menstrual leave, flexible hours, remote or hybrid work, and greater employer understanding as the support they would value most. Conducted as part of the international FEMaLe (Finding Endometriosis with Machine Learning) research programme, the study concludes that flexible workplace policies and better-informed employers could help women with endometriosis maintain employment and reduce the condition’s broader social and economic impact.

More information: Dominika Miklos et al, Endometriosis as a determinant of work disability in the Hungarian population: quantifying productivity loss and the need for workplace prevention strategies, Preventive Medicine Reports. DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2026.103501

Journal information: Preventive Medicine Reports Provided by Semmelweis University

Different Organs, Different Ageing Clocks: A Blood Test Could Reveal Yours

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Researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI)-based “tissue clocks” that can estimate the biological age of human organs from microscopic tissue images. Scientists at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Network Medicine (LBI-NetMed) at the University of Vienna analysed more than 25,000 tissue samples across 40 tissue types. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that organs age at different rates and that some of these ageing patterns may even be detectable through blood samples.

People of the same chronological age can differ greatly in how old they appear or how well their bodies function. This raises an important question: do individual organs also age at different speeds? Led by CeMM and LBI-NetMed Principal Investigator André Rendeiro, the research team used AI to investigate how the microscopic architecture of human tissues changes with age, rather than focusing only on molecular markers such as DNA methylation or gene expression.

The researchers used data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx), which collected samples from 983 individuals across 40 tissue types, including the brain, heart, lungs, pancreas, skin, and intestine. In total, they analysed 25,712 high-resolution tissue images, representing approximately 480 million individual image tiles, using advanced computer vision models.

The analysis showed that age was the strongest factor associated with changes in tissue appearance across all 40 tissue types. Building on this finding, the researchers developed “tissue clocks” capable of estimating biological age independently for different organs. These models predicted age with an average error of just 4.9 years. The estimated biological ages were also associated with established indicators of ageing, including shorter telomeres, tissue abnormalities, and the number of chronic diseases an individual had.

Importantly, the study found that organs do not follow the same ageing schedule. The lungs, kidneys, pancreas, and adrenal glands showed signs of accelerated ageing as early as ages 20 to 40, while other tissues followed more complex patterns later in life. The uterus showed a particularly notable change around menopause. Health conditions were also associated with organ-specific ageing: kidney failure was linked with accelerated ageing signals across several tissues, while diabetes had especially pronounced effects in the pancreas.

The tissue clocks also identified individuals whose organs appeared biologically older than their chronological age. According to the researchers, AI can detect subtle structural changes that may be difficult for the human eye to recognise, allowing ageing to be viewed as a process of architectural remodelling within tissues rather than simply the accumulation of molecular changes.

Because obtaining tissue samples is often invasive or impractical, the researchers investigated whether the same organ-ageing signals could be detected in blood. By linking blood-based gene expression with tissue age estimates from the same individuals, they developed predictors capable of estimating tissue-specific biological ageing using blood samples alone. This could potentially provide a much less invasive way to assess how individual organs are ageing.

The blood-based models detected ageing patterns associated with conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s disease, cystic fibrosis, vasculitis, diabetes, and stroke. Alzheimer’s disease produced its strongest ageing signal in the brain, while Crohn’s disease showed accelerated ageing across the gastrointestinal tract. Although further research is needed before these methods could become routine clinical tests, the findings suggest that combining AI, tissue imaging, and blood analysis could eventually help monitor organ health, detect disease-related changes earlier, and provide a more personalised picture of biological ageing.

More information: Ernesto Abila et al, Histological aging signatures for monitoring tissue-specific aging and disease, Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04566-5

Journal information: Nature Medicine Provided by CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Research Shows Waist Size Can Help Predict Health Risks

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Measuring waist size may be one of the simplest and most effective ways to identify obesity-related health risks, according to a study by Rutgers Health researchers. The findings suggest that waist circumference can provide useful information about unhealthy levels of body fat and may help identify people at increased risk of chronic diseases.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, found that combining body mass index (BMI) with waist circumference—or using waist circumference alone—performed about as well as a newly proposed definition of obesity that relies on several body measurements. This suggests that a relatively simple measurement may offer much of the information needed for obesity screening.

Researchers analysed data from 1,900 U.S. adults aged 20 to 59 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They compared several methods of diagnosing obesity against a highly accurate measure of body fat to determine how well each approach identified people with excess body fat.

The researchers also examined a recently proposed obesity framework developed by a multidisciplinary group of independent experts. The framework incorporates BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and waist-to-hip ratio. Although this approach identified more people with excess body fat, the researchers found that simpler methods achieved similar accuracy.

In particular, using either BMI or waist circumference provided a good balance between correctly identifying people with obesity and avoiding false-positive diagnoses. Waist circumference alone performed nearly as well. This is important because waist measurement is relatively easy to perform and can be incorporated into routine health assessments without requiring specialised equipment.

“Pay attention to the need to loosen your belt or get bigger pants,” said lead author Aayush Visaria, a Rutgers Health faculty member. Although clothing size is not a substitute for properly measuring waist circumference, Visaria said changes in clothing fit may provide an early indication of unhealthy amounts of body fat. Monitoring both waist size and weight could therefore help identify health risks earlier.

The study also highlighted some limitations of relying on BMI alone. Researchers found that BMI missed a substantial number of people who met body-fat criteria for obesity. BMI is based on weight relative to height and does not fully account for differences in body composition or where fat is distributed. Waist circumference can provide additional information about abdominal fat, which is associated with risks such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

The findings could help shape future recommendations for obesity screening and encourage wider use of waist measurements in routine health care. The researchers noted that some measurements included in newer obesity frameworks, such as hip circumference, are rarely collected in everyday clinical practice. Waist circumference, by comparison, is increasingly recognised in clinical guidelines and is practical for both clinicians and patients. As Visaria explained, multiple complex measurements may not always be necessary: a simple waist measurement can provide valuable information for identifying obesity-related health risks.

More information: Aayush Visaria et al, Lancet Definition vs Other Criteria for Obesity Diagnosis in Adults, JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.27738

Journal information: JAMA Network Open Provided by Rutgers University

PCB Contamination Detected in Chinese Tea, but Consumer Health Risks Remain Low

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Tea is enjoyed by millions of people every day, but tea leaves can also accumulate traces of persistent environmental pollutants during cultivation and production. A new nationwide study provides one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in commercial tea produced across China.

Researchers analysed 192 tea samples covering all six major tea categories and 16 Chinese provinces, testing for 18 PCB compounds, including six indicator PCBs and 12 dioxin-like PCBs. Although PCBs were detected in all samples, the health risk assessment found that exposure from drinking Chinese tea is unlikely to pose an appreciable health risk to consumers.

“Tea leaves have a long journey from the field to the cup, and contaminants can potentially enter at several stages,” said corresponding author Wenfeng Zhou. “Our study provides a national baseline that helps us understand where PCBs occur in tea, how processing may influence their levels, and what those concentrations mean for consumers.”

Total concentrations of the 18 PCBs ranged from 9.36 to 4,490 picograms per gram (pg/g) of dry tea, with substantial differences among tea types. Dark tea had the highest average concentration at 549 pg/g, followed by oolong tea at 241 pg/g, while yellow tea recorded the lowest average concentration at 93.3 pg/g.

Geographic variations were also observed. Tea produced in Guangdong had the highest average PCB concentration at 505 pg/g, followed by Yunnan, Chongqing, Guangxi and Shaanxi. Researchers suggest these differences could reflect local environmental contamination, historical industrial activities and variations in tea production practices. Analysis of the chemical profiles showed that lower-chlorinated PCBs were dominant, with CB-28 and CB-52 contributing substantially to the overall PCB profile.

The researchers also examined whether tea processing itself could affect PCB concentrations by comparing fresh green tea leaves with tea made from the same batch. Total PCB levels increased from 51.2 to 63.7 pg/g after processing, largely because of increases in indicator PCBs. However, the difference was not statistically significant, suggesting that processing was not a major source of PCB contamination in this experiment.

For consumers, the health risk assessment offered reassuring results. Using World Health Organization toxic equivalency factors and typical tea consumption rates, researchers estimated exposure to dioxin-like PCBs. Green tea produced the highest estimated weekly intake because it is consumed in larger quantities, but estimated exposure remained well below established tolerable intake thresholds.

The authors caution that their assessment considers PCB exposure from tea alone rather than a person’s total dietary exposure. Because PCBs persist in the environment and can accumulate through food chains, continued monitoring is important. The study establishes a national baseline for PCBs in Chinese commercial tea, providing evidence that could strengthen food safety surveillance and help identify opportunities to reduce contamination throughout the tea production chain.

More information: Xingyi Wu et al, Profiling of polychlorinated biphenyls in Chinese tea: national distribution, variety-specific variations, and the impact of processing, New Contaminants. DOI: 10.48130/newcontam-0026-0019

Journal information: New Contaminants Provided by Shenyang Agricultural University Collaborative Journals

Socioeconomic Disadvantage Is Associated with Greater Physical Decline with Age

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In England and Canada, socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with poorer physical function and greater declines as people age, according to a study published August 13 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. The study was led by Stephanie Schrempft of Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland, and colleagues.

Physical function naturally declines with age, but the rate of decline varies considerably between individuals and populations. Wealth is known to influence health and disability, yet few studies have directly compared patterns of functional ageing across countries. Such comparisons can help researchers understand how social policies and broader structural factors may contribute to inequalities in healthy ageing.

To investigate these differences, researchers analysed data from two major longitudinal studies: 8,511 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and 22,605 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Participants were between 50 and 85 years old. The researchers examined wealth in relation to walking speed, grip strength, lung function, hearing, mobility, and difficulties performing daily activities such as dressing, bathing and eating.

People with less wealth generally had poorer physical function and experienced greater declines in mobility and their ability to perform daily activities as they aged. Importantly, socioeconomic inequalities in functional ageing were substantially greater in England than in Canada. These differences remained even after researchers accounted for chronic health conditions, weight status and behaviours such as smoking.

The size of the wealth gap was particularly striking for walking speed. In England, the least wealthy 60-year-olds had walking speeds comparable to those of the wealthiest 75-year-olds—an apparent functional ageing difference of approximately 15 years. In Canada, the corresponding difference was about nine years, suggesting meaningful differences in socioeconomic inequalities between the two countries.

The study also identified important differences between women and men. Women with the least wealth experienced greater difficulties with mobility and daily activities than men in the same socioeconomic group, although they had better lung function. These findings demonstrate that socioeconomic disadvantage does not affect everyone in the same way and highlight the value of considering both wealth and sex when studying healthy ageing.

Senior author Silvia Stringhini said the researchers were particularly struck by the substantially larger wealth gaps in England than in Canada. Despite both countries having universal healthcare and similar levels of income inequality, the differences in functional ageing were considerable. She noted that ongoing cross-country research will investigate the structural factors that may explain why these inequalities differ between countries.

First author Stephanie Schrempft emphasised that the findings go beyond showing that people with less wealth have poorer health on average. By following adults over time in England and Canada, the researchers found that socioeconomic disadvantage was also associated with a faster loss of mobility and physical independence with age. Although the study was observational and could not establish causation or fully account for factors such as childhood circumstances and access to private healthcare, the authors suggest that healthy-ageing policies should prioritise socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and address the broader structural conditions underlying these inequalities.

More information: Stephanie Schrempft et al, Socioeconomic inequalities in functional ageing trajectories in England and Canada: A comparative longitudinal cohort study, PLOS Medicine. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004833

Journal information: PLOS Medicine Provided by PLOS

Early Life Adversity Leaves a Lasting Molecular Mark Across the Body

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The experiences we face early in life may leave lasting marks on our health, with effects that can echo across decades and throughout the body. A new study published in Science provides compelling molecular evidence that early life adversity can leave a lasting, system-wide signature on the epigenome. This biological layer helps regulate gene activity.

Led by researchers at Arizona State University and Vanderbilt University, along with collaborating institutions, the study examined 237 free-ranging rhesus macaques living on Cayo Santiago, a 38-acre island off Puerto Rico. The macaques have been followed throughout their lives, providing researchers with unusually detailed records of their experiences. The team paired these life histories with genomic data from 12 tissues collected in adulthood.

Researchers focused on DNA methylation, one of the most extensively studied epigenetic markers of ageing. Patterns of DNA methylation can be used to create “epigenetic clocks” that estimate both chronological age and biological age. The researchers developed highly precise tissue-specific clocks capable of predicting the macaques’ ages to within approximately one year.

The results revealed that ageing does not occur uniformly throughout the body. Age-related DNA methylation patterns differed substantially among tissues, with some, including the thymus and pituitary gland, showing particularly great and distinctive changes. Blood—the tissue most commonly examined in human studies—captured only part of this complex picture. Despite these differences, individuals who appeared biologically older in one tissue also tended to appear older in others, suggesting some coordination in ageing across the body.

The study’s most striking findings emerged when researchers examined early life adversity, including naturally occurring experiences such as maternal loss, low maternal social status and growing up in a crowded social group. Each type of adversity was associated with changes in particular regions of the genome. Once affected, however, those regions often showed similar changes across multiple tissues, revealing a coordinated molecular signature of early experiences throughout the body.

Researchers identified thousands of genomic regions where DNA methylation was associated with early life adversity. Many overlapped with regions affected by ageing, but the direction of these changes varied. In some cases, adversity-related patterns resembled accelerated ageing; in others, they moved in the opposite direction. The findings therefore challenge the idea that adversity causes the body to age faster.

Instead, early adversity appears to reshape the epigenome in more complex and tissue-specific ways, potentially altering the trajectory of molecular ageing rather than uniformly accelerating it. The findings also demonstrate why examining multiple tissues is important: relying primarily on blood samples may overlook significant biological effects occurring elsewhere in the body.

Because rhesus macaques share important biological and social characteristics with humans, the findings offer valuable insight into the developmental origins of health and disease. The study suggests that early life represents a critical period during which experiences can become biologically embedded, leaving molecular signatures that persist into adulthood. Understanding these signatures may ultimately help researchers explain how early experiences influence health trajectories across the lifespan.

More information: Baptiste Sadoughi et al, Age and early life adversity shape heterogeneity of the epigenome across tissues in macaques, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.aea4922

Journal information: Science Provided by Arizona State University

Growing Up Gets Easier With Time, New Research Suggests

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As young adults, many millennials were more apprehensive about growing up than previous generations. But those fears appear to ease with age, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

The study, published in Developmental Psychology, examined how “maturity fears” — fears about growing up and a desire to return to the security of childhood — changed among college students over time. Researchers compared students surveyed in 1982, 1992 and 2002, then examined responses from the same generational cohorts 20 years later. They found that more recent generations of college students reported greater fears about growing up than earlier generations. Yet across nearly all groups, those fears declined as people moved further into adulthood.

“Our findings suggest that fears about growing older are not necessarily fixed; they appear to decrease for many people as they gain experience navigating adult roles and responsibilities,” says study author April Smith, PhD, of Auburn University. At the same time, she notes that more recent generations consistently reported higher maturity fears, suggesting that broader societal factors — including economic uncertainty, social pressures and concerns about the future — may influence how young people perceive adulthood.

Smith and her colleagues analysed data from 1,200 college students surveyed in 1982, 1992 and 2002. Participants rated their agreement with statements such as wishing they could return to the security of childhood or believing childhood was the happiest period of life. Among both men and women, students surveyed in 2002 — millennials — reported significantly greater maturity fears than those surveyed in 1992, largely members of Generation X. The 1992 students, in turn, reported higher levels than the 1982 group, largely baby boomers.

When the cohorts answered the same questions 20 years later, however, a different pattern emerged. Maturity fears decreased with age among nearly every group of men and women, with the exception of men in the 1982 cohort. The decline was particularly pronounced among the younger cohorts, meaning that by midlife, differences between the generations had narrowed considerably. One possible explanation is that fears often diminish through experience. Young adults may initially view ageing and adult responsibilities as uncertain or beyond their control. Still, those concerns may lessen as they gain independence, security and confidence in navigating adult life.

An important unanswered question is why newer generations experienced greater maturity fears in the first place. “Our study shows that these cohort differences exist, but it doesn’t tell us exactly what’s driving them,” Smith says. Future research could explore factors such as economic uncertainty, climate concerns, major societal disruptions including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the growing influence of social media. If younger people increasingly perceive the future as uncertain, Smith suggests, it makes sense that entering adulthood could feel more daunting. The encouraging finding, however, is that these fears are not necessarily permanent: for many people, growing up appears to become easier with time.

More information: April Smith et al, Employing a cohort-sequential design spanning 30 years to understand trajectories of maturity fears, Developmental Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/dev0002219

Journal information: Developmental Psychology Provided by American Psychological Association