The more educated a person is, the slower the rate of aging and this leads to longevity, reports UPI.
This is the conclusion of a new study by the Department of Public Health at Columbia University in the United States, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Upward educational mobility is significantly associated with a slower rate of aging and a lower risk of death”the team of scientists announced in a press release on Friday.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers analyzed samples collected during a large-scale cardiac study that covered thousands of participants over three generations, starting in 1948.
During this study, some participants provided blood samples from which the team analyzed genomic data.
The data was analyzed using the DunedinPACE algorithm tool developed by Columbia University researchers to measure the rate of aging using chemical markers on the DNA in white blood cells.
“We’ve long known that people who have a higher level of education tend to live longer”says epidemiology professor Daniel Belsky. “But there are a number of challenges in understanding exactly how this happens and, crucially, whether interventions to promote educational attainment will contribute to healthy longevity.”adds the scientist.
The researchers say they took into account the possibility that social factors might influence their conclusions.
“We focused on educational mobility, i.e. how much more (or less) education a person has completed compared to their parents’says PhD student Gloria Graf.
The researchers explained that they need to determine whether the increased lifespan is due to the slower rate of aging rather than a single environmental factor.
“Our findings support the hypothesis that interventions to promote educational attainment will slow the pace of biological aging,” Graf concluded.
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