A new study has discovered an intriguing new factor that affects cell wear and tear.
Whether your grandparents earned a college degree may affect your biological age, suggesting that socioeconomic status advantages may be passed on to future generations as well.
Generally speaking, Invest more time in education It is related Higher income And individual health has improved, and now the effects seem to extend across generations. Previously, Diet related.
“We know from animal studies that health is passed down across generations, from grandparents to grandchildren.” Say Agus Surakman, an epidemiologist at Drexel University in the United States.
“But we now have robust human data showing that not only do parents’ socioeconomic factors affect their children’s health, but that those effects extend back a generation.”
As our cells endure the stressful shocks and pain of everyday life, they use chemical methods to increasingly lock down their DNA sequences. Processes such as methylation. Measurements of epigenetic processes can not only reflect the degree of biological age, but also indicate stresses that have caused similar genetic alterations in past generations.
The research team used questionnaires, blood samples, and saliva swabs from 624 middle-aged women and 241 of their children, aged 2 to 17. Details about the women’s parents were collected from a previous study conducted in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Analysis of the participants’ DNA methylation found that children whose grandparents graduated from college showed slower biological aging.
The difference was not large, but we are talking about children and adolescents in early life, and the difference may become larger later on, possibly even affecting mortality.
Certain factors, including age, were controlled. Body Mass Index (BMI). The researchers also found that 14.5% of the variability in epigenetic aging was influenced by maternal education level and health factors such as cardiovascular health and inflammation.
“The link between grandparents’ socioeconomic status and their grandchildren’s genetic age is a surprising discovery that spans generations.” Say Elisa Eiffel of the University of California, San Francisco.
“This opens up a number of possible explanations and will require replication. For now, we know that maternal worse metabolic health is a partial mediator of this relationship.”
The children in the study will continue to be tracked over time to see how their health progresses, but it serves as a reminder that: Various factors Things that help our well-being – but we’re not responsible for them all.
“We often blame people for our poor health.” Say Surachman. “But the reality is that health is much more complicated than that.”
“There are also factors that we cannot control, such as genetics or hereditary factors. Epigenetics We have it since we were born. May it help us to extend more grace and compassion to ourselves and our communities.”
This study was published in: Social Sciences and Medicine.
