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Many people fret about ageing, little realising that whatever your age in years, some of your body parts are just a few weeks, even days, old. This is because they are constantly renewing themselves. Here, Angela Epstein looks at how old you REALLY are...
LIVER AGE: 5 MONTHS
The liver is known for its amazing capacity to repair and re-grow itself thanks to its rich blood supply. This means it can continue with its main job of flushing toxins out of the body. If you've ever wondered why even heavy drinkers can sometimes improve the state of their liver, it's because liver cells only have a life span of around 150 days. 'I can take 70 per cent of a person's liver away in an operation and around 90 per cent of it will grow back within two months,' explains David Lloyd, consultant liver surgeon at Leicester Royal Infirmary.
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The little girl left without her mother after an everyday operation went terribly wrong
However, in heavy drinkers the parenchymal cells - the liver's main cells - can become so damaged that scar tissue forms, a condition known as cirrhosis. So though a healthy liver can regenerate itself, with cirrhosis the damage is permanent - and sometimes fatal.
Whatever your age in years, some body parts are just a few weeks, even days old
Most of our cells that last a lifetime are found in the brain, explains John Wadley, consultant neurosurgeon at Barts and the London Hospital. 'We are born with all the brain cells we'll ever have - around 100 billion - and most of the brain does not regenerate as it gets older. In fact, we actually lose cells, which is the underlying reason for dementia and why head injuries are so devastating. 'There are, however, two areas of the brain that do regenerate,' says Mr Wadley. 'The olfactory bulb that governs our sense of smell, and the hippocampus, which is an area for learning.'
Your eyes are one of the few body parts that don't really change during your life. The only part that is constantly being renewed is the cornea, the transparent top layer. If this is damaged, it can recover in as little as 24 hours, says Dr Rob Hogan, president of the College of Optometrists. 'The cornea has to have a smooth surface, so you can focus properly. That's why the cells renew themselves so quickly.' Unfortunately, this isn't the case with the rest of the eye - as we age, the lens loses flexibility, which is why we struggle to focus as we get older.
Our nails are made of cells rich in a tough protein called keratin. Fingernails grow by 3.4mm every month - almost twice as fast as toenails. Meanwhile, it takes ten months for a full toenail to grow, but only six months for a fingernail. This may be because they have a better blood supply and therefore better circulation. The nails of younger people and men grow faster, which may also be because they have better circulation. Bizarrely, the little finger nail grows much more slowly than other fingernails, although it's not clear why. Generally speaking, the growth rate of nails also depends on age and conditions such as psoriasis, which can affect the tissue from which the nail grows.