The Ageing Metabolism: Diabetes at the Crossroad of Longevity and Chronic Disease

The process of ageing is universal, but the effects on the human health are strongly individual. During the last decades, scientific studies showed that ageing is not a simple process of time elapse, it is a complicated biological process closely connected with metabolism. With the numerous effects of ageing, the change in metabolism is a significant indicator and cause of chronic illnesses, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
The book is titled The Ageing Metabolism: Diabetes at the Crossroad of Longevity and Chronic Disease, and it attempts to understand the complex association between the metabolic changes in ageing and development, progression and management of diabetes. Ageing metabolism is a set of biochemical and physiological transformations, among them, insulin sensitivity, mitochondrial efficiency, nutrient sensing, and hormone regulation alterations. Such changes have the potential to affect not only the development of diabetes but also the complications of diabetes, forming a nexus between longevity and chronic diseases.
The clinical relevance of the knowledge of ageing metabolism cannot be overestimated. With the increasing age of populations all over the world, the age-related diabetes and comorbidities are becoming increasingly more common in an unprecedented pace. Clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals have the twofold task of achieving healthy ageing as well as preventing or treating chronic metabolic diseases. This book seeks to offer a unified and holistic view of the field by incorporating knowledge in gerontology, endocrinology, molecular biology and epidemiology to give an overview of the field linking basic science to clinical practice.
The intended audience of this work is researchers who want to learn about the processes that connect ageing and metabolism, clinicians treating older adults with diabetes, medical students who want to learn the dynamic relationship between longevity and chronic disease, and professionals in public health who want to develop interventions to support metabolic health in older adults.
The biological basis of ageing and the changing metabolic processes with age, the pathophysiology of diabetes, and the lifestyle and pharmacological interventions which can be used to maximize healthspan and minimize risk of disease, will be explored in the following chapters. This book dreams of shedding some light on the ways to have a longer, healthier and metabolically balanced life by putting diabetes at the center of longevity and chronic disease.