An interdisciplinary ageing alliance: cellular metabolism over a life-course in socioeconomic disadvantaged populations

并不是每个人都老得很好，许多人在健康不佳的情况下度过晚年。生活在富裕地区的人比生活在贫困地区的人活得更长，后者一生中有近三分之一的时间是在健康状况不佳的情况下度过的。这种健康不平等在不同种族之间更加明显，在英国，亚裔和黑人生活在贫困中的可能性是白人的两倍。这种不平等可能由许多因素造成，但可能团结弱势群体的一个关键原因是细胞新陈代谢的变化，换句话说，细胞对我们所吃的糖和脂肪的反应方式。许多常见的老年疾病是由于体内细胞所使用的糖和脂肪的平衡发生变化而引起的。在英国的亚洲人生活在贫困中的可能性是英国人的两倍，他们的饮食可能直接改变他们的细胞新陈代谢。因此，我们想要研究细胞代谢的变化是如何影响生命结局的。细胞新陈代谢不仅与一个人的生物学有关，如他们携带的基因，而且受到出生前和童年期间的事件以及环境因素的影响。例如，你住在哪里，新鲜食物的供应情况都会影响细胞新陈代谢。与富裕地区相比，贫困地区的快餐店数量是富裕地区的5倍。此外，锻炼的能力，拥有绿地和步行的地方，都是这种明显的健康不平等的一部分。因此，如果我们要找出解决这种老龄化健康不平等的方法，充分了解细胞代谢的变化如何影响整个生命过程的健康是至关重要的。为了实现这一目标，我们需要将来自许多不同学科的研究人员聚集在一起，调查处于社会经济不利地位的人的生物学、他们所面临的营养以及住房、地理和环境等健康不平等的外部因素。然后我们将共同努力，共同确定所有这些因素如何影响细胞新陈代谢和健康老龄化。主要的申请者位于伦敦东部的QMUL，并与英格兰各地服务于社会贫困地区的其他地方建立了联系。希望这个来自许多不同背景和学科的网络能够共同想出新的解决办法，以解决老龄化带来的健康不平等问题。

Not everyone ages well, many people live their last years in ill health. People living in more affluent areas live significantly longer than people living in deprived areas, who spend nearly a third of their lives in poor health. This health inequality is even more evident between different ethnic groups, where Asian and Black people in Britain are twice as likely to live in poverty compared with White people.This inequality can be caused by many factors but one key reason that may unify disadvantaged populations are changes in cellular metabolism, in other words the way cells respond to the sugars and fats we eat. Many common diseases of older age result from changes in the balance of sugars and fats used by cells of the body. Asian people in Britain are twice as likely to live in poverty and their diet could directly alter their cellular metabolism. Therefore, we want to investigate how changes in cell metabolism influence life outcomes. Cellular metabolism is not just related to a person's biology such as the genes that they carry, but is influenced by events before a person is born and during childhood as well as environmental factors. For example, where you live and the availability of fresh food will impact on cellular metabolism. Deprived areas have up to 5 times the number of fast food outlets compared to affluent areas. Also, the ability to exercise, having green spaces and places to walk to are all part and parcel of this apparent health inequality. Therefore, having a full understanding of how changes in cellular metabolism influence health throughout the life course is essential if we are to identify ways of addressing this ageing health inequality. In order to achieve this, we need to bring together researchers from many different disciplines to investigate the biology of people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, the nutrition they are exposed to as well as external contributors of health inequality such as housing, geography and the environment. We will then work together to determine collectively how all these things impact cell metabolism and healthy ageing. The lead applicants are based at QMUL in East London and have formed links with other places serving areas of social deprivation across England. It is hoped that this network, put together from many different backgrounds and disciplines, can collectively think of new solutions to tackle the health inequality of ageing.