Reaserchers analyzed the DNA structure of 1,779 young adults and their mothers. What they found was, children of older fathers have genetic benefits including traits that could increase life expectancy as well as the ability to procreate later in life.
Geneticists have already known that life expectancy is linked to the length of the structure known as telomeres that sit at the end of the chromosomes that house our genetic code, DNA. As it goes the longer the telomeres, the greater potential for a longer life expectancy. What they don’t know is why children are born to older fathers have longer telomeres. This trait extends as well to older father who had older fathers and so one.
Dan Eisenberg, lead author of this study attempted to breakdown his hypothesis on regarding this phenomena “If your father and grandfather were able to live and reproduce at a later age, this might predict that you yourself live in an environment that is somewhat similar — an environment with less accidental deaths or in which men are only able to find a partner at later ages. In such an environment, investing more in a body capable of reaching these late ages could be an adaptive strategy from an evolutionary perspective.”
Researchers are not, however, encouraging men to reproduce at an older age as older fathers are known to pass on genetic mutations to their offspring than can lead to miscarriages and other health related problems.
The study appeared in the June 11-15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Watch the video below for further information regarding telomeres and they relate to aging
