Why does increased cell death in the body increase inflammation? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Cell death in your body happens all the time, every day, and when it does DNA is released into your blood. It may be your genetic DNA or it may be from your mitochondria, and it is giving clues to your aging and health. That’s according to research by geriatrics expert Peter Abadir at Johns Hopkins.

Abadir: Look at the genomic DNA fragments and how it is linked to both dementia and cognitive and physical function. Genomic DNA is just direct proxy of how many cells die in the body. So the higher the loss of cells in your body the higher the level of genomic DNA fragments. So you can see how that's relevant many of the diseases of aging like sarcopenia,like frailty, because the more you lose of your muscles you get higher genomic DNA fragments in the body.  :31

Circulating DNA can raise inflammation in your body by provoking your immune system to respond, Abadir notes. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.