crap, my fast food diet was not without cost
Children were split into groups of high, medium and low affluence groups, and blood samples were used to measure children’s average telomere length in white blood cells, while the stress hormone cortisol was measured from urine.Telomeres are structures found within chromosomes that play an important role in cellular ageing and DNA integrity, and their degradation is linked to ageing. Telomeres become shorter as humans age.Previous studies have suggested a link between telomere length and chronic diseases, and that acute and chronic stress can reduce telomere length.The study found that children from the high affluence group had telomeres 5% longer on average compared with children from a low affluence group. Girls were found to have longer telomeres than boys, by an average of 5.6%, while children with a greater body mass index (BMI) had shorter telomeres by 0.18% for each percentage increase in fat mass.Children from the medium and high affluence groups had cortisol levels between 15.2% and 22.8% lower than children from the low affluence group.