New research from King’s College London has found that individuals who have experienced mental illness have blood markers suggesting they are biologically older than their actual age. Researchers at the university analysed 168 different blood metabolites from over 110,000 participants in the UK Biobank database, and linked these to information about whether their subjects had suffered mental health problems. Lead researcher Dr Julian Mutz said the results indicated “…the bodies of people with mental health problems tend to be older than would be expected for an individual their age.” The findings could help explain why people with mental illness often have shorter life expectancies and are more prone to age-related diseases than other members of the population. The study was presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris.