Any alcohol “accelerates biological aging and shortens telomeres”

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Diet is one of the key factors when it comes to longevity. While living longer and being in good health is an ideal goal for many, one popular drink can take years off your life.

Drinking alcohol accelerates biological aging. Alcohol damages telomere DNA.

These results support the hypothesis that alcohol, especially in excessive amounts, directly affects telomere length. Shortened telomeres have been proposed as risk factors for a number of serious age-related diseases.

What are telomeres?

Telomeres are repetitive sequences of DNA that that seal the ends of chromosomes and protect them from damage.

Results

The study noted a “significant association between high alcohol consumption and shorter telomere length.”< /p>

Consumption of more than 29 units of alcohol per week was associated with age-related changes in telomere length over two years. In people diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, the age-related decline was the equivalent of six years compared to controls.

Telomere length is considered an indicator of biological aging, as 50-100 are lost each time a cell replicates. DNA bases. When telomeres become too short, cells can divide more, so the DNA strand can die. Shortened telomere length has previously been linked to several age-related diseases, such as cancer and coronary heart disease.