15 June, 2005 16:57 GMT
The study found a decrease in telomere length corresponded to how obese women were and the amount of cigarettes smoked.
Obesity can speed up the aging process as much as heavy smoking, research revealed yesterday.
Scientists found that being grossly overweight can age a person by almost nine years, while people who smoke regularly add more than seven years to their biological age. Fat people who smoke add ten years or more to their age.
Professor Tim Spector, of St. Thomas' Hospital, London, who led the study, said: "Our findings suggest that obesity and cigarettes accelerate human aging."
Telomeres Shorten with Age
The study of 1,122 women aged between 18 and 76, which was published in
The Lancet, focused on telomeres, the caps on chromosomes that protect the DNA strands from fraying. As a person ages, the telomeres shorten, damaging the DNA.
The study found a decrease in telomere length corresponded to how obese women were and the amount of cigarettes smoked.
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