Thursday, December 3, 2009

In the news: Telomere Testing

A recent article by United Press International highlighted some of the cool things going on with telomeres, which we hope to start testing at our practice soon.

The article keys in on a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, and found that intensive exercise helps prevent the shortening of telomeres, which are DNA that protect chromosomes from damage.

That's fantastic, but why is it important to prevent that? A good introduction to telomeres is this article from the BBC in 2003. A 20 year study on telomere testing, which first was introduced to the world around then, found that telomere length can determine if one will be likely to live 15+ past the age of 60.

"People with shorter telomeres were found to be at greater risk of developing age-related diseases, and were nearly twice as likely as others to die over the next 15 years or so, especially from heart disease and pneumonia.

A team led by Dr Richard Cawthon, from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, studied 143 people over the age of 60.

They found those with telomeres in the top half for length lived for four to five years longer than those whose telomeres were among the shortest half. "

So our conclusion is: go exercise!

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Sanctuary Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton

Dr. David J. Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center, Boca Raton
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ

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