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Welcome!
In this issue: Look Younger Live
Longer!
The Younger You Look, the Longer You'll Live
At least that's what Danish researchers concluded after testing 1,800
pairs of twins over the age of 70. The investigators performed physical and
cognitive tests on the twins and also took their photos. Then three separate
groups of people who didn't know the twins' year of birth looked at photos of
the twins' faces and guessed their ages. The researchers tracked the twins
for the next seven years and found that the ones who had looked younger than
their actual age were much more likely to still be living, even after
adjusting for such factors as gender and environment. The researchers also
found that the bigger the difference in perceived age within any set of
twins, the more likely it was that the older looking sibling died first. The
only biological explanation advanced was that the individuals who looked
younger also tended to have longer telomeres (repeating DNA sequences at the
ends of chromosomes) that are linked to aging. Individuals with shorter
telomeres are thought to age faster - in this study, the more fresh-faced
individuals had longer telomeres. The findings were published online on
December 14 in the British medical journal BMJ.
I hope you have had a wonderful Holiday, and look forward to seeing
you in the New Year!
Have a great day!
Dr. Joe
4Smiling Aesthetic Dentistry
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