That motherhood is a very rewarding experience is a phrase that most mothers will agree with; However, that the sleepless nights and the whole range of new surprises that a new life in the family brings, are beneficial to delay aging, does not seem to be so clear. Now, a new study carried out by Simon Fraser University (Canada) suggests that the more children a woman has, the slower she will age . The work has been published in the magazine PloS One.
Specifically, the study found that the telomeres of women who had more offspring were longer than those of those who had fewer children. And, as we already know, telomeres are those stages at the end of each DNA chain that protect our chromosomes from damage and each time a cell replicates, the telomeres get shorter. Over time they become so short that they stop protecting chromosomes, making them vulnerable to damage, which shows the aging process of our cells over time.
Thus, despite the fact that previous research has supported the theory that the greater the increase in reproductive behavior, the more accelerated the biological aging, the present study contradicts this assertion.
The researchers evaluated the number of children from two neighboring communities in the highlands of southwestern Guatemala, with a total of 75 women . The study follow-up lasted for 13 years. By measuring, thanks to samples of saliva, the length of telomeres, at the beginning and at the end of the experiment, the scientists discovered that the more children the females had had, the longer were their telomeres; specifically, for each child born, the telomeres were 0.059 units longer.
“Our analysis shows that the increase in the number of children through 13 years of observation suggests that, in our study population, having more children can slow down the rate of cellular aging,” the authors clarify.
The explanation for this phenomenon could be explained by an increase in the estrogen hormone that arises during pregnancy: “ Estrogen acts as a powerful antioxidant that protects cells against telomere shortening, ” explains Pablo Nepomnaschy, leader of the study.
