Thursday, July 12, 2007

More moles might mean slower ageing

Moles 'good indicator to ageing' BBC News 7/11/07 "The number of moles may offer an indication of how quickly the body ages...the more moles a person had, the more likely their DNA was to have the properties to fight off ageing...Moles appear in childhood and disappear from middle age onwards...Since moles disappear with age, scientists looked at the relationship between the number of moles and telomere length in cells, which is a good indicator of the rate of ageing in organs such as the heart, muscle, bones and arteries...In the study, researchers found those with more than 100 moles had longer telomeres than those with fewer than 25...The difference between the two mole groups was equivalent to six to seven years of ageing...Lead researcher Dr Veronique Bataille said: "The results of this study are very exciting as they show, for the first time, that moley people who have a slightly increased risk of melanoma may, on the other hand, have the benefit of a reduced rate of ageing..."This could imply susceptibility to fewer age-related diseases such as heart disease or osteoporosis, for example. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings."... "

More at The Independent.

If this research holds up I might actually come to appreciate my moles. What a fascinating study.

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