In our youth, blood levels of IL-6 are typically low or may even be undetectable, but they begin to increase when we’re around fifty to sixty. As a potent pro-inflammatory agent, elevated levels are considered to be one of the most powerful predictors of disease and death in the elderly.1016 Researchers looked at single blood samples from healthy individuals aged sixty-five and older and found that if their IL-6 levels were in the highest quarter of values, their risk of dying may be 40 percent over the next five years, compared to less than 10 percent among those with values in the lowest
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