Healthy Aging, Longevity, and Sustainability

With the progression in the Science of Aging, also known as GeroScience or Gerontology, and the concomitant rising interest in health and nutrition and their intercorrelation with aging and longevity; this interest was paralleled with the establishment of independent specialized research centers and institutions concerned with looking at the various environmental factors that lead to improving the features of life in the aging stages and increasing the chances of longevity without suffering from common chronic diseases, especially neurodegenerative ones. Aging is important from a clinical standpoint since it is associated with a higher risk of adverse and life-threatening health outcomes such as falls, hospitalization, disability, and mortality. It is also significant from a societal standpoint because it identifies groups of people who require additional health, social, and medical attention and are at risk of becoming overly reliant. As the deteriorating effects of aging have been vastly stated in the literature, one of the required tasks is to investigate the observed increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), motor neuron diseases, psychological and aging diseases in the UAE  and the pan-Arabic region. Further, the importance of nutrition and its relationship to aging, and the role of different dietary programs and food constituents in preventing aging-accompanying diseases is of great significance. 

1. Examine the effect of healthy dietary and lifestyle behaviors on aging markers in the elderly and pre-elderly age stages such as intermittent fasting, healthy diet (such as Mediterranean diet), and physical activity.
2. Studying the impact of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as physical inactivity, smoking, sleep deprivation, and other behaviors on pathological aging factors.
3. Determining the rates and risk factors for aging diseases among middle age groups by studying the indicators mentioned above in the introduction.
4. Applying epidemiological methods to evaluate the burden of age-related diseases such as dementia on Emirati families and other families residing in UAE, by studying the prevalence rates of dementia and all contributing risk factors associated with these diseases.
5. Applying epidemiological methods to evaluate the burden of age-related diseases such as cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) on Emirati families and other families residing in UAE, by studying the prevalence rates of CVA and all contributing risk factors associated with these diseases.
6. Identification of novel genetic causes for dementia like AD and PD.
7. Identification of novel genetic causes for CVA.
8. Determining the social factors accompanying the lifestyle behaviors and different indicators of the elderly group in relation to the achievement of the SDGs, with a special focus on SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-being".

1. Studying the interactions of aging indicators with biological, genetic, epigenetic, immunological, biological, hormonal, dietary, and life-behavioral factors.
2. Identification of risk factors for aging and diseases of aging earlier life stages.
3. Examining the effect of different dietary constituents and environmental exposures on longevity markers using murine/animal models.
4. Identifying and understanding the interlinkage between all examined factors related elderly group and SDGs, with special references to SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-being".

• Osaka University, Japan
• Utah University, USA