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Environmental and lifestyle factors play a far greater role than genetics in determining the likelihood of dying young, according to the largest study yet to untangle the contributions of nature and nurture to healthy aging. A range of external factors including exercise and smoking — collectively dubbed the “exposome” — was almost 10 times more likely than genetic risk factors to explain premature mortality, scientists from the University of Oxford and Massachusetts General Hospital said in the Nature Medicine journal. (Kresge, 2/19)

The key to reversing cellular aging may lie in a protein responsible for toggling cells between a "young" and an "old" state. This is the conclusion of researchers from the University of Osaka, who experimented with the expression of the protein "AP2A1" in cells of different ages. "The results were very intriguing," bioengineering professor Shinji Deguchi, one of the paper's authors, said in a statement. (Randall, 2/18)

If you’re like most Americans, you probably down a daily multivitamin or take turmeric pills from time to time. About 58% of U.S. adults 20 and older, including 64% of women and 51% of men, reported consuming a dietary supplement in the past 30 days, according to the 2017–18 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A 2024 poll from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a dietary supplement trade association, suggests usage is even higher, with 75% of U.S. adults 18 and older taking dietary supplements. Nearly all users in the CRN survey (91%) said supplements are essential to maintaining their health—which is why it’s so troubling that supplement-spurred liver damage is skyrocketing. A 2022 study published in the journal Liver Transplantation found that drug-induced acute liver failure tied to herbal and dietary supplements had increased eightfold from 1995 through 2020. (Leake, 2/19)

Apple opened a massive new health study last week that will track data from hundreds of thousands of iPhone owners who volunteer to participate. The goal is to uncover previously unseen connections between the human body and all manner of medical conditions. Data collected from phones, smartwatches, and other Apple devices will be flowing through the office of cardiologist Calum MacRae, vice chair for scientific innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and principal investigator for the Apple study. MacRae, who moved to Boston in 1991 after studying medicine in the United Kingdom, hopes that eventually millions of people will share their data to improve medicine. (Pressman, 2/18)