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By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online
Going on a health kick reverses ageing at the cellular level, researchers say.
The University of California team says it has found the first evidence a strict
regime of exercise, diet and meditation can have such an effect.
But experts say although the study in Lancet Oncology is intriguing, it is too
early to draw any firm conclusions.
The study looked at just 35 men with prostate cancer. Those who changed their
lifestyle had demonstrably younger cells in genetic terms.
Safety caps
The researchers saw visible cellular changes in the group of 10 men who
switched to a vegetarian diet and stuck to a recommended timetable of exercise
and stress-busting meditation and yoga.
The changes related to protective caps at the end of our chromosomes, called
telomeres.
Their role is to safeguard the end of the chromosome and to prevent the loss of
genetic information during cell division.
Continue reading the main story
Telomeres
Sit at the end of our chromosomes
Likened to the tips on the end of shoe laces that stop fraying, they protect
the chromosomes that house important genetic information
They are made up of a repetitive sequence of DNA
Shorten with cell divisions and can signal when a cell should die
If telomeres are missing, the ends of chromosomes tend to get chewed away or
they may stick to other chromosomes
They allow the chromosomes to be replicated in their entirety
As we age and our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter - their structural
integrity weakens, which can tell cells to stop dividing and die.
Researchers have been questioning whether this process might be inevitable or
something that could be halted or even reversed.
The latest work by Prof Dean Ornish and colleagues suggests telomeres can be
lengthened, given the right encouragement.
They measured telomere length at the beginning of their study and again after
five years.
Among the 10 men with low-risk prostate cancer who made comprehensive lifestyle
changes, telomere length increased significantly by an average of 10%.
In comparison, telomere length decreased by an average of 3% in the remaining
25 men who were not asked to make any lifestyle changes.
Jury's out
Shorter telomeres have been linked with a broad range of age-related diseases,
including heart disease, and a variety of cancers.
Start Quote
I'm definitely going to wait to see whether this can be replicated on a larger
scale and with more sizeable effects before I get excited
Dr Tom Vulliamy of Queen Mary University of London
The study did not set out to check if lifestyle changes and telomere
lengthening would improve cancer outcomes, but the researchers say this is
something that should be investigated.
Prof Ornish said: "The implications of this relatively small pilot study may go
beyond men with prostate cancer. If validated by large-scale randomised
controlled trials, these comprehensive lifestyle changes may significantly
reduce the risk of a wide variety of diseases and premature mortality.
"Our genes, and our telomeres, are a predisposition, but they are not
necessarily our fate."
Dr Lyn Cox, a biochemistry expert at Oxford University in the UK, said it was
not possible to draw any conclusions from the research, but added: "Overall,
though, the findings of this paper that changes in lifestyle can have a
positive effect on markers of ageing support the calls for adoption of and
adherence to healthier lifestyles."
Dr Tom Vulliamy, senior lecturer in Molecular Biology at Queen Mary University
of London, said: "It is really important to highlight that this is a small
pilot study.
"Also, the significance of the effect of these lifestyle changes on telomere
length is actually quite borderline, with only two or three men showing any
improvement.
"Given this, I'm definitely going to wait to see whether this can be replicated
on a larger scale and with more sizeable effects before I get excited."
Experts agree that telomere shortening is unlikely to be the sole explanation
for human ageing.
For example, humans have much shorter telomeres than primates and mice, yet
live for far longer.
But past work has shown that people who lead a sedentary lifestyle can
experience accelerated cellular ageing in the form of more rapid shortening of
their telomeres.