Research
Mixed
Lifestyle factors including smoking, obesity, stress, and pollution accelerate telomere shortening, thereby increasing the pace of biological aging and the risk of age-associated diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
To slow biological aging, prioritize avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, managing stress, and minimizing exposure to pollution. These factors directly impact telomere length, a key marker of cellular aging.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Certain lifestyle factors such as smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, and consumption of unhealthy diet can increase the pace of telomere shortening, leading to illness and/or premature death.
Why this rating
The paper is a review citing multiple observational and mechanistic studies, but lacks large-scale randomized controlled trials for all factors.
Source
Telomeres, lifestyle, cancer, and aging
Masood A. Shammas · Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care · 2010
DOI 10.1097/mco.0b013e32834121b1
narrative_reviewCited 698×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Dietary interventions including high fiber, antioxidant-rich foods (omega-3, vitamins C and E), soy protein, and dietary restriction can reduce the rate of telomere shortening and preserve telomere length.Good
- Regular physical exercise is associated with elevated telomerase activity, reduced oxidative stress, and slower telomere shortening, thereby preserving leukocyte telomere length.Good
- Psychological stress accelerates telomere shortening through increased oxidative stress and reduced telomerase activity, effectively aging cells by approximately 10 years compared to non-stressed individuals.Good
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