Most of us wish we could be young forever, and stop the aging clock.

Of course that’s impossible, but there’s some new, important insight into why we age and what we might be able to do about it. The new research says that aging could be speeded up by heavy smoking and a lifestyle that encourages obesity.

Ponce de Leon searched for the fountain of youth, but he was looking in the wrong place. It appears a key to the aging process is on the tips of our chromosomes on an area called the telomere. And if that area is damaged, it makes us more susceptible to diseases that contribute to the breakdown of the body, which we consider the downside of getting older.

So although we don’t have the ability to stop time, and we all are going to chronologically age and pile on the years, how our bodies deal with that process, and age internally is an entirely different matter.

Telomeres cap the ends of the chromosomes in our cells and protect them from damage. Every time a cell divides, and as people age, the telomeres get shorter.

Dr. Abraham Aviv, a telomere researcher, says, “Telomeres are essential for us in terms of maintaining what we call genomic stability. As they deteriorate they create genomic instability that leads to terrible things.”

In other words, when the telomeres become so short they no longer protect the chromosome, which then becomes susceptible to mutations, for example, which leads to diseases like cancer.

Now, new research done at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and published in the journal the Lancet says people who smoke or are obese are biologically older than slim individuals and non-smokers, because their telomeres are shorter than expected.

It makes sense since smoking causes what’s called oxidative stress or damage to cells and DNA by free radicals - charged particles found in the environment. It results in inflammatory damage to the organs, and presumably, to the telomeres as well.

Smoking a pack a day for forty years caused 7.4 years of aging in telomere length. And being obese resulted in 8.8 years of aging.

“Obesity is also a state of oxidative stress and inflammation. It’s well known that fat produces cytokines-- an inflammatory agent and also creates systemic oxidative stress in obese individuals,” says Dr. Aviv.

There are several other studies backing the findings of this one, including one that showed a link between chronic stress and shorter telomeres, and another that showed a greater risk of heart disease in individuals with shorter telomeres.

Of course, obesity also increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other illnesses.

And researchers have shown that cigarette smokers die on average 10 years earlier than non-smokers.

It’s interesting to note that women, who live longer than men, have longer telomeres--the average length corresponding directly to the average number of extra years lived.

And there’s some good news to all this: there’s a hint that if you do live a healthier lifestyle, it can keep one young. “There is a good relationship between exercise and telomere dynamics,” states Dr. Aviv.

So if you keep moving and don’t smoke—maybe--you will live longer, and certainly healthier.

For more information on this study, go to

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673605666305/abstract

http://www.telomere.org/

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