Just one photo of your face could detect biological age and chance of surviving cancer

A SINGLE photo of someone’s face can detect their biological age and their chance of surviving cancer, researchers say. Experts from Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts have developed an AI tool trained on more than 40 million pictures, which can spot key clues about a person’s health. The tool can estimate someone’s biological age – how old the body is in terms of health and function rather than the number of years a person has lived. It’s thought to be a better indicator than chronological age of how long someone will live and how many of those years will be spent in good health. A lower biological age has also been linked to a lower risk of disease, such as cancer. Mass General Brigham researchers said their tool can also estimate whether someone is more likely to survive cancer. Read more on disease The AI model focused on people’s nasolabial folds, forehead and temples to make predictions about biological ageing, and on people’s eye bags and nose bridge to make predictions about cancer. The cancer estimates were then checked against real patient data to verify their accuracy, the authors said. Hugo Aerts, professor at Harvard University and director of the AI in medicine programme at Mass General Brigham, said the new work “advances the field of facial health recognition AI a step further by learning survival risk directly from facial photographs of patients with cancer”. He added: “To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that an AI model can directly predict cancer survival from a simple photograph.” Most read in Health The foods and drinks causing you to AGE faster By Eva Gizowska CRISPS, cakes, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, ready-meals – it’s not rocket science to know that these foods aren’t exactly healthy. But what if you were told that they could make you age faster – would you cut back? In fact, experts say diet can increase your biological age, which refers to how old your body is, based on how fast it’s declining. It can be older or younger than your chronological age, which is how many years you have lived. An accelerating biological clock will also make you look older. “It causes cells to age throughout your body, and this affects the cells of your skin,” says Gemma Clare, functional nutritionist and integrative skin expert. “While you may not be aware that your heart or lungs are ageing at a faster rate, the signs of accelerated ageing are much more obvious on your skin and body.” Unhealthy foods are usually either high in fat, sugar and salt, or all of these, and are referred to as ultra-processed foods (UPF). A recent study by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, found that for every 10 per cent increase in UPF intake, biological age goes up by 2.4 months. It’s the equivalent of only 200 extra calories in a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet, which could amount to just a couple of biscuits. In reality, though, UPFs account for at least half the average person’s daily food intake, research suggests. If you think your diet could be in a downward spiral, rein it in by cutting these ‘ageing’ foods and drinks – - Sugar (e.g. fizzy drinks, cereal, fruit yoghurt, milk chocolate) - Seed oils (e.g. rapeseed, soyborn, corn, sunflower, safflower) - Salty foods (e.g. ready meals, takeaways, crisps) - Charred foods (e.g. burnt toast, crispy bacon) - Processed meats (e.g. salami, hot dogs, pepperoni, deli meats) - Alcohol The AI tool was used among 38,000 cancer patients in the US. Those whose estimated facial age was at least five years older than their actual age had a 21 per cent higher chance of death during the four-year follow-up. The patients who looked five or more years younger had a 17 per cent lower risk. The estimates were then checked against real patient data to verify their accuracy, the authors said. The researchers also found that how people live their lives also influences ageing in the face. Heavy drinking, drug use and smoking were all linked with looking biologically older. Smoking showed the strongest pattern – current smokers looked older than former smokers, and former smokers looked older than people who never smoked. Raymond Mak, associate professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School, said the team was surprised by how consistent the study’s findings were “across common real-world photo variations, including pose, lighting, facial expression and makeup”. He added: “As the population ages, physicians need better ways to estimate physical reserve and frailty before recommending intensive treatments such as radiation, surgery or systemic therapy. “Our goal is to make face photograph-based health assessment more quantitative, consistent and scalable so it can support personalised treatment decisions rather than replace physician judgment.” The study was published in Lancet Digital Health. The authors have now opened their FaceAge Research Study to the public. Participants can upload a picture of their face to faceage.bwh.harvard.edu and get their own reading, while also helping researchers improve their AI model. The study follows new research from China, published in Scientific Reports, in which an AI system detected whether someone had heart disease from pictures of their face and tongue. The researchers recruited 518 people: 200 with diagnosed CHD and 318 healthy volunteers. Each had their face and tongue photographed and then analysed by AI. The tool scanned the pictures of colour changes, pigmentation and tongue coatings, which served as possible signs of disease. It correctly identified 98 per cent of participants who had coronary heart disease (CHD) – when fatty substances clog up the arteries and block blood supply to the heart. But further research is needed to confirm whether the tool can be used for screening the general public, where people will have a mix of illnesses and varying levels of heart disease risk.