It’s important to have a healthy lifestyle.
A recent study suggests that one marker of accelerated biological aging—shortened telomeres—may be linked to a higher risk of developing stroke and dementia.
Published on June 11 in the journal Neurology, the research found that individuals with shorter telomeres in their white blood cells were more likely to experience these two neurological conditions. However, the association did not hold among participants who followed healthy lifestyle practices.
“Our results highlight the value of improving modifiable health factors like weight management, physical activity, sleep, and alcohol intake to potentially reduce the impact of biological aging on brain health,” said lead author Dr. Christopher Anderson, a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School, in a press release.
Telomeres are structures that cap the ends of chromosomes, functioning like the tips of shoelaces to prevent DNA strands from fraying. Each time a cell divides, telomeres become shorter, making them a reliable indicator of biological age—which can reflect the body’s cumulative exposure to stress and disease more accurately than chronological age.
The study used data from more than 356,000 participants in the UK Biobank, a large health database from England, Scotland, and Wales. Participants were grouped based on whether they had short, medium, or long telomeres in their white blood cells (leukocytes).
Researchers examined the relationship between telomere length, lifestyle choices, and the development of dementia, stroke, or depression over an average follow-up period of seven years. During that time, nearly 26,000 participants were diagnosed with at least one of the three conditions.
The incidence rate was higher among those with the shortest telomeres—5.8 cases per 1,000 person-years—compared to 3.9 cases per 1,000 among those with the longest telomeres. After adjusting for various risk factors, the study found that individuals with short telomeres faced an 11% increased overall risk of brain-related diseases. This included an 8% higher risk of stroke, a 19% greater likelihood of developing dementia, and a 14% increased risk of dementia later in life.
Importantly, the heightened risk associated with short telomeres was not observed in individuals who maintained healthier habits such as regular exercise and a balanced diet.
“This study supports the idea that lifestyle interventions may buffer the effects of biological aging and help prevent neurological conditions,” Anderson said.
The authors cautioned that their findings demonstrate a correlation rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship between telomere length and brain disease.
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