Wednesday, June 15, 2005

New UK Study Suggests Obesity Accelerates Aging Process of Cells

It's well known that smoking can decrease your life span. Many studies have been completed to verify the harm smoking can cause to health.

But its only in recent years that clinical research has turned its attention to obesity and aging.

A new UK study published Tuesday June 13, 2005 in the online version of The Lancet indicates that... in addition to increased risk of health conditions including heart disease, hypertension and respiratory disease... obesity also causes accelerated aging at a molecular level.

"The mean rate of telomere length decrease across all the participants was 27 bp per year. But the telomeres of the obese women were seen to be 240 bp shorter than those of lean women, making them more than nine years ‘older’ in biological terms."

Read the full story online at BLV Health Watch.