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Being a mother comes with all kinds of stresses and strains.
But a study suggests that having children not only makes women feel older, it can also increase their biological age.
Researchers have found that each pregnancy adds two to three months to a young woman’s physical aging process.
However, pregnancy does not appear to have any effect on men’s biological age.
Researchers have found that each pregnancy adds two to three months to the physical aging process of a young woman, but has no effect on men. Stock
Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health determined the biological age of 1,735 young people in the Philippines by studying their “epigenetic clocks.”
This technique involves estimating the aging of blood and other tissues by tracking changes in DNA.
Experts compare it to looking for barnacles that have stuck to the hull of a ship to slow it down.
The analysis revealed that each additional pregnancy during early adulthood accelerated the aging process by several months.
However, no differences were seen in men whose partner had been pregnant, suggesting that there is something specific about pregnancy or breastfeeding that accelerates the biological aging process.
Lead author Dr Calen Ryan said: “Epigenetic clocks have revolutionized how we study biological aging across the spectrum of life and open new opportunities to study how and when long-term health costs take hold. of reproduction and other life events.
«Our findings suggest that pregnancy accelerates biological aging and that these effects are evident in young women with high fertility.
“Our results are also the first to follow the same women over time, linking changes in each woman’s number of pregnancies with changes in her biological age.”
The results of the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), only apply to young women who are in late adolescence.
This time period usually refers to ages between 18 and 24.
“Many of the pregnancies reported in our baseline measurement occurred during late adolescence, when women are still growing,” Dr. Ryan said.
‘We still have a lot to learn about the role of pregnancy and other aspects of reproduction in the aging process.
“We also now know the extent to which accelerated epigenetic aging in these particular individuals will manifest as poor health or mortality decades later in life.”
She added: “Ultimately, I think our findings highlight the potential long-term impacts of pregnancy on women’s health and the importance of caring for new parents, especially young mothers.”
Recent research, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, also found that pregnancy advances a woman’s biological age.
However, the findings also indicated that giving birth caused it to regress: chemical markers in the DNA reverted to an earlier state once the baby was born.