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“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks” appears to make a definitive judgment about Natalia’s age.
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A TruDiagnostic DNA blood test shows that his biological age is close to 22.
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DNA tests like this are used to calculate genetic age, and do not necessarily correspond to chronological age.
Natalia Grace’s real age is much lower than her legal age – at least, according to the results of a DNA test she took while filming Max’s documentary “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.”
In 2010, Michael and Kristine Barnett adopted Natalia, who they were told was a 6-year-old Ukrainian orphan. However, they came to believe that she was, in fact, a con artist for adults, not unlike the 2009 horror film “Orphan.” The couple successfully petitioned a court to change her year of birth from 2003 to 1989.
In 2013, after the successful petition, the Barnetts left Natalia, who has a rare form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, alone in an Indiana apartment and moved to Canada. Although she was legally an adult, her disability status meant she was still classified as a dependent, and the then-divorced couple faced neglect charges in 2019. Michael was acquitted in October 2022, and dismissed Charges against Kristine in March 2023.
In “Natalia Speaks,” the second season of the documentary series currently streaming on Max, Natalia Grace tells her side of the story. She disputes the Barnetts’ claims that she was an adult when she was a child – and gets DNA test results on screen that confirm she’s telling the truth.
Natalia Grace took a DNA test to find out her age in ‘Natalia Speaks’
In season two, episode one of “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” Natalia and her most recent adoptive father, Antwon Mans, consult with the genetic testing company TruDiagnostic to determine Natalia’s biological age.
Dr. says Halland Chen, an age specialist at TruDiagnostic, in an interview in the series that the company can determine a person’s biological age by using a blood sample and examining their DNA. According to the National Institute on Aging, biological age is the “true age that our cells, tissues and organ systems appear to be, based on biochemistry.” However, as Business Insider previously reported, biological age is not a simple way to measure a person’s age. Some medical professionals do not accept biological age as a measure because, they say, there is no standard way to age a cell.
TruDiagnostic’s assessment showed that Natalia’s biological age was close to 22. At the time, Natalia suspected that she was about 20 years old. However, her legal age would be close to 33, as the Barnetts changed their legal year of birth from 2003 to 1989.
“This little piece of paper throws every lie the Barnetts have told right into the trash with a match,” says Natalia after receiving the results.
Testimony from another medical professional in the documentary also appeared to validate Natalia’s claim about her age. Natalia’s childhood dentist, Dr. Timothy Gossweiler, said that when he saw Natalia in 2011, Kristine Barnett asked him to estimate Natalia’s age based on her teeth.
Gossweiler shows Natalia’s x-rays from 2011, indicating that she had 12 baby teeth left at the time. According to Gossweiler, that put Natália’s age at the time somewhere between six and nine years old.
“This is too many baby teeth in a way to be an adult,” said Gossweiler. “It’s indisputable. You can’t have false teeth coming in like this.”
In an email to Business Insider, Katherine Barnett said that she and her husband at the time “she did not urge Natalia, the local police department detective, to recapture Detective Clouse.” She added that “there were many parties, forensic evidence, and state law enforcement outside of myself and Michael as an adult involved with Natalia.
DNA tests like the one taken by Natalia Grace are more a measure of health than a means of determining your age
Natalia Grace used the TruDiagnostic test to calculate her real age. But these tests are more commonly used as a form of health measurement.
Chronological age is how old you are according to your date of birth. Biological age appears to be a measure of how fast you are aging according to your cells, tissues and organ systems.
In theory, the older your biological age, the more likely you are to develop age-related diseases such as cancer or dementia.
Research shows that your cells can age prematurely. Depression, lack of sleep, stress, violence and poverty are all linked to accelerated cell ageing, according to a systematic review.
Some longevity researchers believe there are ways to “reverse” our biological age. For example, Steve Horvath, who invented a way to measure biological age, says he reversed his biological age by 4 years by eating less sugar and more vegetables, quitting smoking, and exercising more. Harvard biologist David Sinclair told Business Insider in March 2023 that although his chronological age at the time was 54, his biological age was 44. Sinclair believes that his carefully crafted lifestyle keeps his cells young.
So, while Natalia’s DNA results – and the testimony of her former dentist – indicate that she was a child at the time the Barnetts left her in Indiana, it is not an absolute way to determine her chronological age based on her date of birth.
Read the original article on Business Insider
