Obesity accelerates aging in women by 8.8 years

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thursday, July 29, 2010 1:26 pm Email this article
Obesity accelerates aging in women by 8.8 years according to a study from researchers from the Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, England. This compares to 7.4 years of accelerated aging for a woman who has smoked a pack of cigarettes per day for 40 years. Subjects

Subjects: 122 white women, 18-76 years-old

The study analyzed the length of telomeres from 1122 white women who were 18– to 76-years-old.

 

What are Telomeres?

Telomeres are tails on the end of chromosomes that shorten as we age

Telomeres are caps on the end of chromosomes that protect them, but shorten as we age, each time a cell divides and are also shortened by oxidative stress.

 

Conclusion

Conclusion: Obesity and smoking accelerate aging

“Our findings suggest that obesity and cigarette smoking accelerate human ageing,” the researchers concluded.

REFERENCE

Valdes A, Andrew T, Gardner J, Kimura M, Oelsner E, Cherkas L, Aviv A, Spector T. Obesity, cigarette smoking, and telomere length in women. Lancet. 2005 Aug 20-26, 366(9486):662-64.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Professor Tim D. Spector
Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit
St Thomas’ Hospital
London, UK
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Aging

• Health Risks of obesity