It appears that older men can impart a genetic advantage to their children that might mean their offspring live longer.

It has been known for some time that one of the causes of aging is what is known as the telomere, DNA found at the end of each chromosome, that slowly shortens as cells reproduce. As the telomeres shorten, the replication of the DNA becomes compromised.

The study publsijed in the June 11-15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that it appears that older men have longer telomeres in their sperm. Thus, the longer telomeres are passed onto their children, who then genetically inherit the possibility for increased longevity.

Dan Eisenberg, lead author of the study said:

“If your father and grandfather were able to live and reproduce at a later age, this might predict that you yourself live in an environment that is somewhat similar — an environment with less accidental deaths or in which men are only able to find a partner at later ages … In such an environment, investing more in a body capable of reaching these late ages could be an adaptive strategy from an evolutionary perspective.”

Researchers looked at the DNA from nearly 1,800 young adults and their mothers in the Philippines. Children born to older fathers seem to have the longer telomeres, and better still, the effect is passed down the generations to grandchildren and great grandchildren. There are obviously other risks involved with older men fathering children, including genetic mutations from poor quality sperm, downs syndrome being at a higher risk, and a risk to the mother of having miscarriages, which can often be associated with genetic failures in the growing fetus that causes its development to fail.

It seems that the lengthening of telomeres for each year that the father’s or grandfather’s reproduction was delayed is approximately equal to the yearly shortening of the teleomere seen in middle-age to elderly women in this study.

Co-author Christopher Kuzawa pointed out that the work was only preliminary and far more research will be needed. He iterated the necessity to go beyond only the telomere issue and discover the physical benefits of having this genetic trait from older fathers and grandfathers. Questions arise beyond the theory itself and demand confirmation that increased telomere length really reduces the health problems and ailments that come with age. There might also be other factors and genetics that offset the advantage in some other way.

He concludes: “Based upon our findings, we predict that this will be the case, but this is a question to be addressed in future studies.”

Written by Rupert Shepherd