Smoking and obesity a double danger to health
Smoking and obesity can both contribute drastically to shortening the normal life span.
One of the major recent advances in ageing research has been the discovery of telomeres, which are like shoe lace ends, on people’s chromosomes and are thought to protect the chromosomes, and therefore, people’s genes, from unravelling.
As people age, the telomeres shorten – possibly because a little is shaved off every time cells divide.
Another reason may be damage from biological rusting – the havoc that oxygen can play on tissues.
It is called oxidative stress and can be made worse by obesity and smoking.
Researchers have studied the telomere length of over 1,000 female twins aged 18 to 76.
They found a predictable shortening of telomeres with age.
The women who smoked or who were obese also had accelerated reductions to the extent that smoking a pack a day for 40 years translated to over seven years of extra ageing.
Obesity was about half as age toxic and may be related to obesity hormones.
