The hallmarks of aging · November 10, 2026
Nutrient sensing: what insulin and HbA1c say about how the body ages
Every cell has sensors that read whether there is plenty or scarcity, and that reading decides whether it builds or repairs. You cannot feel those sensors. Their footprint shows up in lab work, starting with fasting insulin and HbA1c.
What the sensors read
Inside the cell there are sensors that measure how much energy is available. Two of them, mTOR and insulin signaling, respond to abundance and push the cell to grow and build. Two others, AMPK and the sirtuins, respond to scarcity and switch on repair.
The body needs both modes. Health means moving back and forth between building and repairing.
What changes with the years
A diet of constant abundance leaves the "build" signal on and the "repair" signal off. The sensors keep working: they read what reaches them, and what reaches them is abundance all day long.
Deregulated nutrient sensing is one of the twelve hallmarks of aging in the framework published by López-Otín and colleagues in the journal Cell (2013, expanded in 2023). It is the framework behind the clinic’s hallmarks page.
How the clinic measures it
A sensor can’t be measured directly in a consultation. Its footprint in the blood can. The base lab panel in advanced diagnostics includes fasting insulin, HbA1c, a complete metabolic panel and a lipid panel with Lp(a) and Apo B.
Fasting insulin shows how much insulin your body needs to keep glucose in range. HbA1c gives an average of your glucose over the last few months. Together they show how often the abundance signal is switched on.
What gets done with those numbers
Functional nutrition works on them. The consultation is run by the clinic’s nutritionist, who holds a master’s degree in clinical nutrition, and it starts from your labs, your body composition and what you actually eat in a normal week.
The plan is written so you can keep it up, because the sensors read what you eat every day, week after week.
Bioidentical hormone therapy has its own indication: it comes from your biomarkers, your symptoms and the physical exam, weighed together. A glucose or insulin value on its own does not call for it.
Measuring again
Follow-up lab work is repeated one month after therapy ends and every three months after that. In the 360 Protocol, the lab panel is repeated at six months. That way you can see in numbers whether the sensors’ reading moved.
What is worth asking
At the evaluation, ask which of these values already appear in your recent tests, which still need to be ordered and how often they are repeated in your case.
Bring your lab work from the last 30 days. A recent test you already have is a test nobody has to repeat or charge you for twice.
Where this guide comes from
Checked against the site on November 2, 2026.
Every point in this guide is already on one of these pages, in more detail.
Start with the intake form
Five steps, about ten minutes. At the end you get a printable summary, ready to bring to the consultation.
