Researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena, Germany, the Molecular Biotechnology Centre Turin and the University of Turin, Italy, have identified a fundamental aging mechanism in the gut. A specific form of epigenetic aging, ACCA drift, accumulates in intestinal stem cells, silencing key genes through hypermethylation. Driven by age-related inflammation, weakened Wnt signaling and impaired iron metabolism, it spreads across intestinal crypts and helps explain the rising colorectal cancer risk.