Passage 4
Aging is the major risk for many types of cancer. That is to say， the older you get， the more likely you are to be diagnosed(确诊). And increasingly， experts recognize that age is more than just the number of candles on a birthday cake. It’s also the wear and tear on the body， caused by lifestyle， stress and biology， which is sometimes referred to as a person’s biological age.“We all know cancer is an aging disease. However， it is really coming to a younger population. So whether we can use the well-developed concept of biological aging and apply that to the younger generation is a really untouched area，” said Dr. Cao， an associate professor of surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and senior author of the new research， which was presented Sunday at the American Association of Cancer Research’s annual conference in San Diego.Cao and her team found that people， born in 1965 or later who are around 60 now， were 17% more likely to show accelerated aging than those born from 1950 through 1954.After adjusting the data， the researchers found that accelerated aging was linked with increased risk for cancer. But she also admits that the study has limitations. For example， people in the study were not followed over time. The blood test results were from a single test， so they gave only a limited signal of risk， which may change. Ideally， she said， researchers would be able to follow the same group for years， taking blood samples along the way to get a more accurate trajectory(轨迹) of their risk.Blaes， one of the team members， said that if you can find people who are at higher risk because their cells are aging faster， you can target lifestyle interventions(干预); things like healthy food， exercise and sleep and so on.