REVIEW: Relationships among Development, Growth, Body Size, Reproduction, Aging, and Longevity – Trade-Offs and Pace-Of-Life

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Rong Yuan^1,a*, Erin Hascup^2,b, Kevin Hascup^2,3,c, and Andrzej Bartke^1,d

¹Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 19628 Springfield, Illinois, USA

²Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Department of Medical, Microbial, Cellular Immunology and Biology, 19628 Springfield, Illinois, USA

³Department of Neurology, Dale and Deborah Smith Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment, Neuroscience Institute, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received July 26, 2023; Revised October 18, 2023; Accepted October 19, 2023

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Relationships of growth, metabolism, reproduction, and body size to the biological process of aging and longevity have been studied for decades and various unifying “theories of aging” have been proposed to account for the observed associations. In general, fast development, early sexual maturation leading to early reproductive effort, as well as production of many offspring, have been linked to shorter lifespans. The relationship of adult body size to longevity includes a remarkable contrast between the positive correlation in comparisons between different species and the negative correlation seen in comparisons of individuals within the same species. We now propose that longevity and presumably also the rate of aging are related to the “pace-of-life.” A slow pace-of-life including slow growth, late sexual maturation, and a small number of offspring, predicts slow aging and long life. The fast pace of life (rapid growth, early sexual maturation, and major reproductive effort) is associated with faster aging and shorter life, presumably due to underlying trade-offs. The proposed relationships between the pace-of-life and longevity apply to both inter- and intra-species comparisons as well as to dietary, genetic, and pharmacological interventions that extend life and to evidence for early life programming of the trajectory of aging. Although available evidence suggests the causality of at least some of these associations, much further work will be needed to verify this interpretation and to identify mechanisms that are responsible.

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KEY WORDS: aging, longevity, pace-of-life, trade-offs, developmental programming, growth, reproduction, body size

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297923110020

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