Weight-loss surgery may help reverse the effects of aging on genes, according to a small, intriguing new study presented at a major conference on obesity here.
Researchers from Stanford University examined a marker of aging called telomeres–caps at the end of chromosomes that prevent DNA from degrading–in a group of 51 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery.
The findings, presented at Obesity Week, a joint meeting of bariatric surgeons and other health professionals and obesity researchers, showed that the telomeres of over half of the patients had lengthened significantly up to a year after surgery, demonstrating for what is thought to be the first time that the surgery may reverse some of the deleterious DNA effects of obesity and disease.
Read the full, original story here: Weight-Loss Surgery May Help Slow Aging, Study Says
Additional Resources:
- “Depressed People’s Cells Appear To Be Prematurely Old,” Smithsonian
- “Young at Heart, Literally – Body Parts Age at Different Rates,” Discover