Telomeres are found at the ends of chromosomes in DNA. Like a cap, they protect the chromosomes from deterioration or fusing with other chromosomes. The length of telomeres has been linked with longevity and health. Telomeres get shorter over time through DNA replication.
The aging of the body and the development of diseases is affected by lifestyle factors such as diet and activities, and correlates with telomere lengths being shorter. Telomeres in our cells get shorter as we age, but having shorter than average lengths are associated with increases in age-related diseases and a decreased lifespan.
Shorter telomeres correlate with an increased risk for cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and inflammation. Smoking and obese people show shorter telomeres. It's not just diet and activities, but stress levels and other environmental factors like sleeping more and working less are correlated with longer telomeres.
A recent study has shown a correlation between women who have given birth and shorter telomeres, compared to women who have not given birth and have longer telomeres. The implication is that giving birth reduced the longevity of chromosomes and the lives of those women.
DNA data from 1554 women who had between 1 and 5 or more live births was analyzed. Each year of increased age in these women was associated with 9 to 10 fewer base pairs in the chromosomes, equivalent to about 11 years of accelerated cellular aging. Women who had given birth had a mean of 5919 base pairs compared to the other women who has a mean of 6104 base pairs. The number of births was associated with shorter telomere length (T/S ratio), meaning the more births a women had, the shorter the telomeres were.
The shorter telomere length may be because of giving birth, or it may just be that these women already had shorter telomeres before they gave birth. These results are not conclusive. Other factors could be the reason for the shorter telomere lengths. Previous studies have shown that smoking produces 4.6 years of cellular aging, and obesity 8.8 years of cellular aging.
References:
- Telomere
Telomeres, lifestyle, cancer, and aging - Shammas MA. Telomeres, lifestyle, cancer, and aging. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care. 2011;14(1):28-34. DOI: 10.1097/MCO.0b013e32834121b1
- A Z Pollack, K Rivers, K A Ahrens. Parity associated with telomere length among US reproductive age women. Human Reproduction, 2018; DOI: 10.1093/humrep/dey024
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