Study claims having more children halts ageing process

A study has found that having more children could keep women looking younger. Photo / Getty Images

Rather than forking out for cosmetic surgery, the most effective recipe for slowing down the ageing process could be to keep having babies.

That's according to new research, reported by the Daily Mail, that suggests no matter how much stress your kids may cause you, having more will keep you looking youthful.

A study by Simon Fraser University in Canada found that giving birth to more surviving children means women have longer telomeres, which sit on the end of our DNA strands and are responsible for protecting us from ageing.

The study involved taking saliva and cheek swabs from 75 women to assess their telomere (found at the end of each DNA strand) lengths, while noting the number of children they have.

The researchers speculated the findings could come down to the increase in oestrogen levels during pregnancy, which take the role of an antioxidant and protect cells from damage.

Despite the stress your kids may cause you, they could be protecting you from ageing. Photo / Getty Images

What are telomeres?

As we get older our DNA changes. Telomeres are structures that cap the ends of our chromosomes (which carry our genes) and shorten with age or stress. Lengthening telomeres has been suggested as a way to restore youth.

In the book "According to The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer", molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn and health psychologist Elissa Epel revealed the discovery of telomerase. This is the enzyme that replenishes the bits of DNA on either end of your chromosomes. And those "bits" are called telomeres, often compared to the plastic caps on shoelaces.

Let those caps wear down, and the laces fray. It's the same with telomeres: Stress makes them shorter. And if they get too short, your cells stop dividing, which leads to pain, heart disease and other health woes - all markers of what the authors dub the "diseasespan." (The idea is that we have a healthspan and a diseasespan during our lives, and people with short telomeres move into their diseasespan earlier.)

The bad news is that some people start off at a telomere disadvantage, Blackburn and Epel found. That includes a newborn whose parent has shortened telomeres, which get passed on, folks who live in unsafe or littered neighborhoods or one without nearby greenery. Another way to wind up with shorter telomeres, the authors write, is to be African American and experience discrimination.

For everyone to have the telomeres they deserve, a lot needs to change in the world, the authors say in their concluding Telomere Manifesto. Among their action items: "Reduce inequality" and "clean up local and global toxins."

- Additional content from the Washington Post