A New Study in 495 Centenarians Points to a Brain Aging Biomarker You Probably Have Not Heard Of
Most people know about blood pressure for heart disease and blood sugar for diabetes. Far fewer know that there's now a blood biomarker quietly building a case as one of the more informative readouts for brain aging.
A new JAMA Network Open paper followed 495 Japanese centenarians for 17 years. NfL (neurofilament light) predicted both cognition and lifespan more reliably than the classical Alzheimer's-specific markers did in this cohort.
🧬 NfL is released into blood when axons get damaged from any cause, including aging, stroke, MS flares, concussion, and neurodegeneration 📊 Each 1 SD higher NfL meant 36% higher mortality, even after adjusting for kidney function and APOE4
🧠 Phosphorylated tau did not predict mortality after full adjustment in this cohort. Only NfL did.
💉 Plasma NfL tests now run $200-400 at Labcorp, Quest, and several direct-to-consumer services
This does not replace amyloid and tau testing. It adds a different lens. Plaques and tangles are part of the story, but aging, vascular wear, and injury also drive cognitive trajectories, and NfL captures those. This is why brain aging assessment is moving toward multimodal panels that combine NfL with imaging and genetics, each catching what the others miss.
Link to full post:
drglorioso.substack.com/p/a-…
#BrainAging #Longevity #BrainHealth