A recent study has discovered a fascinating new factor that can impact the aging process of our cells. It appears that the educational attainment of our grandparents might have a significant influence on our biological age, implying that the advantages of socioeconomic status can be passed down not only to the next generation but also to the generation after that.
According to epidemiologist Agus Surachman from Drexel University, previous animal studies have indicated that health traits can be inherited across multiple generations. However, this new study provides solid human evidence that not only do a parent’s socioeconomic circumstances affect their child’s health, but this influence extends back an additional generation as well.
The research team conducted a study involving 624 middle-aged women and 241 of their children, ranging from 2 to 17 years old. Data on the women’s parents were collected during a previous study conducted in the late 1980s to the 1990s. The analysis of the participants’ DNA methylation levels revealed that the biological aging process was slower in children whose grandparents had completed college.
Although the difference in biological age was not substantial, the study’s findings suggest that these differences could have a more significant impact later in life, potentially even affecting mortality rates. The researchers accounted for various factors such as age and body mass index (BMI) during their analysis.
Moreover, the study found that 14.5 percent of the variability in epigenetic aging was influenced by the mother’s own educational background, cardiovascular health, and inflammation levels. Elissa Epel from the University of California, San Francisco, emphasized the significance of the link between a grandparent’s socioeconomic status and a grandchild’s epigenetic age, highlighting the need for further research to confirm these findings.
The children involved in the study will be monitored to observe how their health evolves over time, highlighting the multitude of factors that contribute to our well-being, many of which may be beyond our control. As Surachman explains, health is a complex issue influenced by genetic factors and inherited epigenetics that we are born with. This study sheds light on the intricate relationship between socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and biological aging, emphasizing the need for further research to understand these complex mechanisms better.
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