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

并不是每个人都能安享晚年，许多人的晚年都不健康。生活在较富裕地区的人比生活在贫困地区的人寿命长得多，贫困地区的人一生中有近三分之一的时间健康状况不佳。这种健康不平等在不同种族群体之间表现得更为明显，在英国，亚洲人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，但可能统一弱势群体的一个关键原因是细胞代谢的变化，换句话说，细胞对我们摄入的糖和脂肪的反应方式。许多老年常见疾病是由身体细胞使用的糖和脂肪平衡的变化引起的。在英国的亚洲人生活贫困的可能性是英国人的两倍，他们的饮食可以直接改变他们的细胞代谢。因此，我们想研究细胞代谢的变化是如何影响生命结局的。细胞代谢不仅与一个人的生物学有关，比如他们携带的基因，还受到一个人出生前和童年时期的事件以及环境因素的影响。例如，你居住的地方和新鲜食物的可用性会影响细胞代谢。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，拥有绿色空间和步行的地方都是这种明显的健康不平等的重要组成部分。因此，如果我们要找到解决这种老龄化健康不平等问题的方法，充分了解细胞代谢变化如何影响整个生命过程中的健康是至关重要的。为了实现这一目标，我们需要汇集来自许多不同学科的研究人员，调查社会经济上处于不利地位的人的生物学，他们所接触的营养以及健康不平等的外部因素，如住房、地理和环境。然后，我们将共同努力，共同确定所有这些因素是如何影响细胞代谢和健康衰老的。领先的申请者来自东伦敦的QMUL，并与英格兰其他服务于社会剥夺领域的机构建立了联系。希望这个由不同背景和学科组成的网络能够共同想出解决老龄化健康不平等问题的新办法。

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.