Why female health research could be the future of anti-ageing science

For decades, the science of ageing has mostly revolved around male bodies. Men dominated both the research labs and the headlines, often experimenting with extreme anti-ageing routines, from blood transfusions to VO2 max tracking. But quietly and powerfully, a new revolution is unfolding. And it begins with understanding the female body, not as an exception, but as the key to unlocking healthier, longer lives for everyone.What was once considered a niche subject, female biology in longevity research, is now being called “the canary in the coal mine” of ageing. And the ovary? It might be the most misunderstood organ in this story.

Truth. Women live longer. Myth: They age better

The numbers don’t lie. Women, on average, outlive men by five years in almost every corner of the world. This is not a fluke, it holds true across social classes, geographies, and even during wars and pandemics. But beneath this seeming advantage lies a harsh truth: those extra years aren’t necessarily healthier.Studies show women spend more years living with age-related diseases, like osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, and arthritis. The biological reasons behind this are still being uncovered, but one major suspect is menopause. When the ovaries shut down hormone production, it may trigger a faster ageing process across the entire body.Here’s what’s fascinating: menopause may not just signal the end of fertility, it might mark the start of accelerated ageing.

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Ovaries: More than just reproductive organs

Jennifer Garrison, a neuroscientist, says “Ovaries are the canary in the coal mine for aging.” And for good reason. Ovaries age faster than any other tissue in the body, up to 2.5 times faster. That makes them a powerful model for studying ageing in real time.Doctors at Columbia University are even testing low-dose rapamycin, an immune-suppressing drug, to see if it can slow down ovarian ageing. In mice, the results are promising: longer fertility spans and improved health. If similar effects are seen in women, it might offer new hope to delay not just menopause but diseases linked to it, like heart disease and dementia.The catch? Such research has historically been ignored or underfunded. But that’s now changing.

Forgotten in trials: The real cost of exclusion

One of the reasons female ageing science is playing catch-up is that for decades, women were excluded from clinical trials. Even when the studies were on ageing itself, women weren’t considered. The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, launched in 1958, didn’t include women for the first 20 years.

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Why? Researchers feared that hormonal fluctuations made results too “complicated.” The result? An ageing science that applied male biology as the gold standard, and treated women as an afterthought.This oversight hasn’t just slowed down scientific progress, it may have led to recommendations that simply don’t work for women. Low-carb diets, for instance, have been seen to disrupt menstrual cycles and thyroid health in some women, as per hormone expert Dr Sara Szal.

The X chromosome clue: A female advantage?

One of the most exciting breakthroughs in female longevity research is coming from a place rarely discussed: the silent X chromosome. While males carry one X chromosome, females carry two. One of them remains mostly dormant throughout life, but something strange happens as women age. That dormant X begins to “wake up.”In experiments, researchers like Dr Dena Dubal found that this awakening helps female mice produce proteins that improve brain function in old age. When similar proteins were introduced in ageing male mice, their memory and learning improved too.This suggests that the female brain might have built-in resilience that we’re only beginning to understand, and potentially harness for everyone.