Glycans: What are they and how do they affect how we age during the menopause? [Video]

Dr Newson and Prof Gordan Lauc, Founder of Genos Glycoscience Laboratory and GlycanAge, discuss what glycans are and how they regulate our body’s processes.

In this new recording, Dr Louise Newson welcomes Prof Gordan Lauc, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology & Founder of Genos Glycoscience Laboratory and GlycanAge.

Together, they discuss what glycans are and how they regulate our body’s processes. When glycans attach to antibodies, they can either have an anti-inflammatory or a pro-inflammatory function, and this is deeply influenced by our lifestyle, environmental factors and our diet, but also by changes in hormone levels in women, especially during the peri-menopausal and menopausal stage of their life. 

Dr Lauc and Dr Newson also talk about a recent study which concluded that the GlycanAge index of biological age in women, increases significantly in the perimenopausal period but underlying mechanisms and the significance of this change require more research. 

GlycanAge and Newson Health Research and Education (Dr Newson’s not for profit company) are piloting a new observational study to see whether taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can prevent these changes and improve the state of your immune system and slow down the ageing processes in your body.