The eyes are the window to the soul… And your heart too?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Tired of checking your heart health with pinchy blood pressure sleeves. Just take a retinal scan!
The blood vessels in our eyes display unique branching. These are like a road map that can be studied.
Ana Villaplana-Velasco and team at the University of Edinburgh analyzed images of over seventy-four thousand retinas.
And? People with less branched blood vessels showed an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Researchers linked the number of blood branches to specific biomarkers. Those biomarkers indicated faster signs of biological aging.
And that’s proof that even your eyes are looking out for you!
Reference: Villaplana-Velasco, A., Perrot, N., Hang, Y., Chong, M., Trucco, E., Mookiah, M. R., … & Pigeyre, M. (2025). Mendelian randomization study implicates inflammaging biomarkers in retinal vasculature, cardiovascular diseases, and longevity. Science Advances, 11(43), eadu1985.