Arnaud Pontin (Image : AI / Gay Globe)
We all know that aging is not always easy and, if we could do without it, we would gladly do so. Among gay men, it can sometimes take on unusual proportions, because the appearance of youth plays an important role, both in social life and in sexual life.
It is not necessarily biological aging that takes on unusual proportions among gay men. Rather, it is the social and sexual perception of age and youth that can be particularly important in certain gay circles.
Several factors may explain this. Gay male culture has sometimes placed great importance on physical appearance, youth, thinness, muscularity, and the ability to remain sexually attractive. Dating apps and social media can intensify this pressure by giving considerable importance to photographs and appearance.
There is also a generational phenomenon: some gay men who grew up at a time when homosexuality was much more stigmatized may have associated their youth with a period of discovery, sexual freedom, and identity development. Aging can then be experienced as the loss of a particularly important period of their lives.
Good news! Recent research shows that a shingles vaccine could be associated with a marked slowing of certain signs of aging. Here is a summary of this research:
Could the shingles vaccine also slow down aging?
What if the shingles vaccine had an additional benefit, beyond protecting against this particularly painful infection? That is the question raised by researchers at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC), who discovered an interesting association between shingles vaccination and certain indicators of slower biological aging.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed data from 3,884 Americans aged 70 and older, drawn from the large U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Blood samples allowed them to examine several aspects of biological aging, including inflammation, immune system function, certain cardiovascular markers, neurodegeneration, as well as age-related epigenetic and transcriptomic changes.
The results are particularly interesting on three fronts. Vaccinated individuals showed less inflammation, slower epigenetic aging, and slower transcriptomic aging. They also had a better overall biological aging score.
Inflammation could be one of the important pieces of the puzzle. As we age, the body often develops low-grade chronic inflammation, sometimes referred to as “inflammaging.” This persistent inflammation is associated with several age-related problems, including cardiovascular disease, frailty, and cognitive decline. The researchers therefore hypothesize that the vaccine could indirectly help reduce this inflammation by preventing reactivation of the virus responsible for shingles.
Even more interestingly, some of these effects appeared to persist over time. Participants who had been vaccinated four years or more before the blood sample was taken still showed, on average, signs of slower epigenetic, transcriptomic, and overall biological aging than unvaccinated individuals.
But we should remain grounded. The researchers did not demonstrate that the vaccine rejuvenates vaccinated individuals, nor that it extends their lives. The study is observational and is primarily based on data allowing researchers to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. It is therefore impossible to completely rule out the possibility that other differences between the two groups explain some of the results. The authors themselves emphasize the need for further research, particularly studies that follow the same people over time and trials that can better establish a cause-and-effect relationship.
Another interesting detail: the researchers observed favorable results for certain markers of aging, but not for all of them. Measures related to neurodegeneration and cardiovascular parameters did not show a significant association with vaccination. The potential effect therefore appears to be much more complex than a simple “anti-aging injection.”
For now, the conclusion is therefore cautious but promising: the shingles vaccine could have biological effects that go beyond simply preventing the infection. However, further research will be needed to determine whether this association truly corresponds to slower aging and, above all, whether it translates into better health or greater longevity.
Scientific reference: Jung Ki Kim and Eileen M. Crimmins, Association between shingles vaccination and slower biological aging: Evidence from a U.S. population-based cohort study, The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, DOI 10.1093/gerona/glag008.
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