Telomeres, the Key to Longevity, Show Food May Be the Best Anti-aging Treatment
New York Times, Feb. 15, 2017. –– Why Exercise Is Good for the Heart

Telomeres, the Key to Longevity, Show Food May Be the Best Anti-aging Treatment
Forks Over Knives, Feb. 8, 2017. –– Telomeres may be one key to the aging process.

Twins study: How one-year mission affected astronaut's health
CNN, Feb. 2, 2017. –– Typically, telomeres decrease in length as someone gets older. But Scott's increased while he was in space. When he returned to Earth, they shortened again.

Sitting Too Much Ages You By 8 Years
TIME, Jan. 18, 2017. –– Sitting Too Much Ages You By 8 Years. But exercise can counteract it, a new study finds.

Too Much Sitting Ages You Faster
HealthDay News, Jan. 18 2017. –– Cells of elderly sedentary women look much older than their actual age, study finds.

A Nobel Prize-winning biologist reveals how to slow down the effects of aging
Business Insider, Jan. 11 2017. –– In 2009, Elizabeth Blackbrun — along with Jack. W. Szostak and Carol W. Greider — was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her help in discovering "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres." Telomeres protect our DNA, but over time our telomeres wear down. When this happens, we age — but some of us age faster than others. Blackburn spoke to us about why this is, and how we can take better care of our telomeres to slow down the effects of aging. You can also read more about Blackburn's work on telomere science in her book "The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer."

THE SCIENCE-BACKED WAY TO ACTUALLY HACK YOUR DNA—AND SLOW AGING
WELL+GOOD, Jan. 10, 2017. –– But cutting-edge science has found ways to go so much deeper, letting you actually change your DNA to slow the aging process. And while it sounds like the plot of a sci-fi movie, it’s surprisingly simple—if you know what to do.

Dr. David Katz, Preventive Medicine: Listen to your telomeres
New Haven Register, Jan. 8 2017. –– It turns out, there is just such a surrogate marker for the length of life. Telomeres are, structurally, caps at the ends of our chromosomes — they have been compared to the plastic caps at the ends of shoelaces. Health-promoting exposures, or alternatively the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, can lengthen or shorten telomeres, respectively. The length of telomeres, in turn, predicts the length of healthy life.

Telomere Growth Predicts Reduced Chance of Death from Heart Disease
UCSF News Center, Dec. 8, 2016. –– Short telomeres – the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes – have been previously linked to increased risk of death from heart disease. Now, research by scientists at UC San Francisco and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco has found that change in telomere length over time is also important: heart disease patients whose telomeres shrank over time had a worse short-term prognosis than those whose telomeres stayed stable, and those whose average telomere length grew over the course of the study had a higher chance of survival.

A Nobel Prize-Winning Biologist’s Advice For Aging Well And Preventing Disease
The Huffington Post, Jan. 6, 2017. –– Longer telomeres, longer life. Click link to watch video.

At 'axis of aging and cancer': Studies uncover new details about telomeres
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dec. 6, 2016. ––They’re the barometers of cellular aging. When you smoke, are exposed to pollution, are stressed, obese, follow an unhealthy diet or fail to exercise, research shows that telomeres — the end caps to our chromosomes — can shorten more quickly, accelerating the age-related breakdown of your cells. Reducing stress, exercising and eating healthfully can slow that breakdown, even adding years to your life. Now two University of Pittsburgh researchers — biochemist Patricia Opresko and cell biologist Roderick O’Sullivan — have published studies that explain more about how damage and disease interfere with the normal shortening of telomeres each time a cell divides as a person gets older.

You may have more control over aging than you think, say ‘The Telomere Effect’ authors.
STAT News, Jan. 3, 2017. –– The main message of “The Telomere Effect,” being published Tuesday, is that you have more control over your own aging than you may imagine. You can actually lengthen your telomeres — and perhaps your life — by following sound health advice, the authors argue, based on a review of thousands of studies.

Length of telomeres should tell whether vitamin D, omega-3 are good for the heart, longevity.
Eurek Alert, Nov. 14, 2016. –– The length of your telomeres appears to be a window into your heart health and longevity, and scientists are measuring them to see if vitamin D and omega-3 supplements really improve both.

Here’s Why Pond Scum Will Live Longer Than You
Fortune Magazine, Nov. 1, 2016. ––There’s more to pond scum than meets the eye. Just ask Nobel Prize-winning scientist Elizabeth Blackburn, now the President of the Salk Institute, who earned her Laureate status, in part, for insights gleaned from that lowly life form. Blackburn is famous for her work on telomeres—the chromosome-capping entities that protect genetic material as it replicates. Telomeres wear down over time, she discovered—and that erosion corresponds to aging.

DNA damage response links short telomeres, heart disorder in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Stanford Medicine News Center, Oct. 31, 2016. ––Progressively shortening telomeres — the protective caps on the end of chromosomes — may be responsible for the weakened, enlarged hearts that kill many sufferers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Researchers find that acne sufferers may actually have the healthiest skin
San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 28, 2016. ––Scientists conducted a study of skin biopsies from 1,205 female twins, wherein a quarter self-reported that they had grown up with acne. As they, the protective caps on on the ends of their chromosomes in white blood cells — called "telomeres" — were longer and more durable in those afflicted by acne than in those with clear skin.

What are the long-term health effects of living in space? NASA is studying twins Mark and Scott Kelly to find out
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 7, 2016. ––“You say, ‘Oh, it’s just a blood draw,’ but even just a blood draw is not a simple thing when you’re operating on the space station,” said Susan Bailey, a radiation biologist at Colorado State University who is studying the twins’ telomeres for signs of accelerated aging.

Breast-Fed Babies May Have Longer Telomeres, Tied to Longevity
New York Times, Aug. 4, 2016. –– Breast-fed babies have healthier immune systems, score higher on I.Q. tests and may be less prone to obesity than other babies. Now new research reveals another possible difference in breast-fed babies: They may have longer telomeres..

How Exercise Keeps Your DNA Young
TIME, July 27, 2016. –– A new study reveals how exercise may be another way to combat aging.

Exercise Boosts Telomere Transcription
The Scientist Magazine, Jul. 27, 2016. ––When healthy individuals perform a cardiovascular workout, their muscles increase transcription of telomeres, according to a study published today (July 27) in Science Advances. The team also identifies a novel transcription factor that appears to promote telomere transcription and provides the first direct evidence that telomere transcription is linked to exercise and metabolism in people.

Stress and poverty may make you old before your time
Washington Post, Apr. 18, 2016. ––For ages, the biggest stresses were infection, starvation, malnutrition, exhaustion, trauma, toxins and exposure to the elements. They damage an organism’s cellular machinery and trigger a cascade of biochemical events (such as inflammation) that can do harm as well as good. Modern human beings have traded some of those ancient stresses for new ones, including poverty, financial pressure, racial discrimination, gun violence and child abuse.

Shortened Telomeres and Heart Attacks: Lifestyle Lessons
Huffington Post, Apr. 18, 2016. ––One of the most exciting areas of anti-aging research in humans has been evaluating the importance of the length of the tips of chromosomes, called telomeres. Every year telomeres get shorter as cells replicate. One theory of aging is that when telomeres get short enough, cells and then the organism dies. The potential to lengthen telomeres exists. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three scientists in 2009 for describing an enzyme, telomerase, that can add length to telomeres and holds the potential to slow or reverse aging. New data now links telomere length and the risk of heart attacks.

Can yoga change your DNA?
Fox News, Apr. 5, 2016. ––The ancient practice of yoga, which derives from India and surrounding countries, has long been associated with improved quality of life. The blend of physical postures, breathing exercises and meditation has been studied in modern settings, showing benefits for the cardiovascular system, stress reduction, improved brain function and more. Methods of yoga are taught at hospitals for stress reduction, and for recovery after surgeries, including those for cancer. The Eastern system of yoga, once the purview of ascetics living in monastic seclusion, is now taught widely worldwide. Now it appears that yoga can alter DNA, the molecules that carry our genetic information and instructions, in positive ways.

Does Exercise Slow the Aging Process?
New York Times, Oct. 28, 2015. ––Almost any amount and type of physical activity may slow aging deep within our cells, a new study finds. And middle age may be a critical time to get the process rolling, at least by one common measure of cell aging. Dating a cell’s age is tricky, because its biological and chronological ages rarely match. A cell could be relatively young in terms of how long it has existed but function slowly or erratically, as if elderly. Today, many scientists have begun determining a cell’s biological age — meaning how well it functions and not how old it literally is — by measuring the length of its telomeres.

Telomere Changes Predict Cancer
NORTHWESTERN NOW, Apr. 30, 2015. –– Changes in chromosomes years before cancer diagnosis could yield biomarker to predict cancer.